A New Angel
by TrueAngelofMusic1
Summary: This story takes place 5 years from where the Phantom of the Opera play/movie left off. A new girl has come to the Opera Populaire. When the Phantom hears her sing he takes her in as his new student, his first since Christine.Based on the Play/Movie.
1. Chapter 1

The cold winter wind blew across my face, stinging my eyes and causing pieces of hair to fall out of place. I brushed them back and walked up the stony steps to the "Opera Populaire". I opened the heavy metallic doors and into a magnificent lobby. Statues adorned the sides and the gold walls shone. I felt out of place in my tattered clothing and messy hair. I hoped that my appearances wouldn't matter. That my talent would speak for itself. I hoped.

I asked directions to the stage area from a maid who was dusting a statue. I followed her directions down a hallway and into an amazing stage room. I was completely captivated by the sight. I didn't remember it being so big…

"You!" an angry looking man shouted at me. "What are you doing here?" he yelled as he walked towards me. He had short black hair and was wearing a black suit.

"I-I'm Mary-Alice. I'm auditioning today. I was told to come here…" I stammered nervously.

The man's face softened and then twisted into a slightly disgusted look. "_You're_ Mary-Alice?" he asked, obviously expecting someone different. I suddenly felt self conscious of my torn clothes, messy hair and dirty face. I wish that I had been able to clean up a bit before coming here, but that hadn't exactly been an option.

"Yes monsieur, I am. I am here to audition" I repeated. I tried to appear as oblivious to my appearance as possible. Maybe he would get past it.

"Well yes, of course. I am Monsieur Firmin, one of the owners of this opera house." he stated.

I gave a small curtsy. "Bonjour Monsieur." I said quietly. When I looked up his face had become less shocked and he smiled slightly.

"Alright then." You shall be given a new outfit, one that is more suitable for dancing, for your audition. You shall see Madame Giry about that…"

"Oh, monsieur. I am not here to dance. I'm a singer and a musician." I interrupted. I had _not _come here to become a dancer.

Monsieur Firmin looked a little disappointed. "You mean you have _no _dance experience at all? We are in great need of a new dancer…"

"Well, monsieur," I interrupted again "I do have some dance experience. It's just that I had trained _more_ as a singer and musician." It was not a complete lie. My mother had tried to teach me ballet when I was eleven. I had done it for about a year before I decided that I was no good and quit.

"Oh, that's better then. You will of course, be able to audition in all three areas. Ah! Here comes Madame Giry now" he said as he pointed to a women entering. She was wearing a black dress and her long dark hair was braided. She walked in a way that made her look important.

"Bonjour Madame" Firmin said as the woman approached us. "This is Mary-Alice, the one who has come to audition today. If you could get her into a proper dance costume so that she may…"

"Of course" the woman said. She turned to me. "Come with me." She said and then turned away. I followed her.

We walked out of the room and down a hallway. The hallway was a bit dark and had a few paintings in frames. There were doors every couple of feet along the walls. We finally stopped at one and she pushed it open. It lead into a big room filled with wardrobes. She walked in and went to one at the end of the wall. She opened it and it was filled with white ballet costumes.

"These should fit you. Change into one and then go back to the stage. You remember the way back right?" she asked.

I nodded my head. She turned around and walked out the door, closing it behind her. I grabbed one of the costumes out of the wardrobe. I took off the clothes that I had on and slipped into the white leotard with a puffy skirt attached. It fit perfectly besides the skirt, which was too large for my waist causing it to slip down farther than it was supposed to. After trying to fix it, and failing, I shrugged and hoped that it wouldn't matter. I looked in a large mirror on the wall. I redid my hair into a tight bun. When I looked back up, I was shocked to see how much I actually looked like a real dancer. I was short, exceedingly so. I was only barely five feet at fifteen years old. I was a little too thin from not eating enough recently. My red hair pulled back tightly looked better than it probably had in a month. After deciding I looked acceptable I turned and walked out of the room.

I walked quickly down the hallway, not wanting to keep them waiting long. I remembered the way perfectly so I had no trouble finding my way back. As I entered Madame Giry directed me to go on stage. She told me to leave and go through some doors down the hall and then I would find the backstage, where it would be easy to find the stage from.

I walked through the doors and entered the backstage area. It was full of stagehands, probably preparing for a rehearsal later that day. It felt like they were all looking at me as I walked by.

I finally got to the stage. I stepped forward and slowly walked to the center. Looking out at the hundreds of seats from the center of the stage made me feel even more nervous than I had been before. It made it seem like I was being watched by more people than the three that I was actually performing in front of.

"Now Mademoiselle, you shall first sing, then you shall show us your instrumental talent and then you will dance." Monsieur Firmin instructed. "Whenever you are ready."

I took a deep breath. I shouldn't be nervous; I had practiced this song hundreds of times in the past few weeks. It should be easy. I took a breath and started to sing.

The song was "Think of Me". I had heard it when I had come here with my parents five years ago, when Christine Daae had first sung the lead. I had been so captivated by her that I had never forgot the song and had been singing it ever since.

As I sang, I remembered my mother singing with me. She had loved this song as well and had helped me learn to hit some of the higher of the notes. She was a natural soprano. I had always loved my mother's voice. When she talked it sounded like velvet, but when she sang it was like magic. I had always asked her why she had never been a performer. She had told me that her parents had not wanted her to be a performer so she wasn't allowed. That's why she taught me to sing, so that I could be a performer like she had wanted to be.

I hit the final note of the song and looked out at the reactions of the people. There was Madame Giry, Monsieur Firmin and Monsieur Andre, the other owner of the opera house.

"Very good," Monsieur Firmin said. "Now, you play the piano, correct?" he asked me.

"Yes Monsieur." I answered. I looked around the stage and saw a large black piano behind me. I turned and walked towards it and sat on the bench in front of it. It was a very large and very beautiful. Much prettier than the old one we used to have at home. But the bench was cold and hard. The one that had been at our house had always seemed warmer and soft. Probably because I would almost always sit next to my father as I played. He had always loved to be next to me as I played, even after he had stopped giving me lessons. He, like my mother, had wanted me to be a performer. But he wanted me to be a piano player.

I began to play. I did not need any sheet music; I knew this song by heart. Of course I did, I had written it. Despite not have playing for over a month, I had not had access to a piano recently; I played all the correct notes. I tried to focus on letting the notes flow, like my father had taught me, instead of hitting each of them separately. I silently forgot the rest of the world, as I often did, as I played. I had missed this so much and was happy to be playing again.

As I finished the last of the notes, I left my dream world and reentered the real one. The song was finished so I got up off of the bench and walked back towards the center of the stage and waited for any sort of response.

"What song was that?" Monsieur Andre asked me. It was the first time I had heard him speak. His voice was a bit lower than Monsieur Firmin's, and sounded a bit nicer.

"It was my own song, Monsieur. Why? Would you rather I perform one of the prewritten pieces? Because I could…" I asked. I had questioned for along time whether or not to perform my own work. I never knew how good that it was, only that I had liked the way it sounded.

"No no!" Monsieur Andre interrupted. "That was lovely. I only questioned it because I had never heard it. After you sang the song that you did I had expected you to use a piece from one of our past productions." He assured me.

"Now," Monsieur Firmin started, "We will need you to dance for us. We will have our pianist play for you. What song would you prefer? He asked me.

This was the part that I was most nervous for. I had prepared a dance, but it wasn't very complicated. I told the song and the pianist, who I hadn't noticed sit at the piano behind me after I had got up, pulled out the music from a large leather folder. I went to the first position and waited for the music to start.

As the music started I began to dance. The dance wasn't amazing. It was alright, I stumbled twice but I quickly recovered and didn't miss a step after. I tried my hardest to remember what my mother had taught me during out short lessons. Large, over exaggerated movements, pointing my toes, and keep my head high. If anything, I did those things.

The dance lasted about five minutes, long enough to show them my level of dance. As I finished the dance I didn't know how I had done. I wished I had been able to watch myself in a mirror before coming here, so that I had at least known whether I looked acceptable or like a complete fool.

"Okay Mademoiselle," Madame Giry started to say, "That was good. You will need to work on some of your techniques, but at least you know what you are doing." She said. I had not completely failed. At that I was pleased.

"Now if you would please wait a moment as we make a decision." Monsieur Firmin told me as he, Monsieur Andre and Madame Giry started whispering.


	2. Chapter 2

OK, so here's Chapter 2! I'm planning on continuing this story until the end, so no worries! Thank you 13sapphire13 for your review! Please remember to review!

I stood silently in the center of the stage as I waited to hear my fate. I hoped with every fiber of being that I would be accepted. I had no idea what I would do if I was not, I had no where else to go. It seemed like hours before Monsieur Firmin stood up.

"Mademoiselle, we have decided that we will hire you. You are most needed in our dance corps. You shall train under Madame Giry privately until you are ready to train with the rest of our ballerinas."

I was a little stunned. I was thrilled that I was wanted here, that they wanted me to stay. But, I had not come here to be a dancer. The only reason that I had prepared a dance was because it was required in an audition. But I decided that I needed this so much that I couldn't refuse.

"Thank you Monsieurs. I promise that I will train very hard." I assured them. I know that I would need to if I was ever going to hope to keep up with the other dancers. I had been to performances here before and all of the dancers had been perfect. I didn't think that I could ever dance like them.

"Yes, you will need to." said Monsieur Firmin. "You will train three times a day until you are able to practice with our other dancers."

"Madame Giry will now take you to your room where you shall be living." Monsieur Andre said. "We are short on rooms for dancers so you will be sharing a room with another girl. That's not a problem is it?"

"No, not at all Monsieur." I assured him. I had never actually shared a bedroom with someone else because I was an only child. It couldn't be too hard. And maybe this would be a way to make my first friend here.

"Very good." Monsieur Andre said. "Madame, if you would lead Mary-Alice to her room now."

"Of course Monsieur" Madame Giry responded. She turned to me. "Follow me." She instructed before turning away.

I quickly jumped off of the stage and walked after her. We left the stage room and walked back down the hallway we had went to get my costume. But this time we past that door and continued down the long corridor.

The further down we went, the more people we began to see. Girls, some my age some looking to be in their late teens, would pass us. Most of them would turn their heads to look at me, wondering who this new dancer was. Finally we stopped at a door.

"This will be your room." Madame Giry informed me. "You will be sharing it with my daughter, Meg. She is rehearsing at the moment and will be back within the hour. Your first rehearsal will be later this afternoon. Everyday you will have three practice times, all of them private with me as your instructor. You shall have one at eight o'clock in the morning, which means you should wake up before seven thirty to get ready. Then you have another at one o'clock and then another at six. Lunch at dinner will be served at twelve and five, each lasting forty five minutes, giving you fifteen minutes in between your meals and practices. Take extra care to be on time, punctuality is very important here. Now, do you have any questions?"

"No Madame. And, thank you." I added. She smiled at me and opened the door to my room.

It was large, with two beds next to each other, each covered in a purple blanket. The walls were grey and tall. There were two wooden wardrobes, not nearly as big as the ones that I had seen while getting changed, on either sides of the room.

"I will leave you so that you may get settled. Meg should be back any minute. I'm sure you will like her, she is very welcoming to our new dancers. She is one of our lead ballerina's here." Madame Giry said. "Is there anything else that you need?"

"No, Madame. Thank you." I answered. She nodded and walked out of the room, closing the door behind her.

I took a deep breath. This was it, I had done it. Sure, it wasn't exactly as I expected. I never in a million years would have guessed that I would have been accepted as a dancer. Not when I had put so many hours of my life into singing and piano. But that was alright. I had always silently known that it would be harder than anything to be a singer here. The chorus was very small and accepted few people. And of course, being Prima Dona was probably one of the hardest things to achieve. Even being a piano player in the orchestra would have been nearly impossible, they had only ever accepted male instrumentalists. So, I figured that being a dancer was the best thing for the moment.

All of a sudden there was a knock at the door. I jumped a little before realizing it was probably Meg. I stood up, fixed my skirt, and walked over to open the door.

When I opened it I saw a beautiful girl. She was short, though not nearly as short as me. She had long blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes. I assumed she was about nineteen. She smiled at me before I moved to the side to let her enter the room.

"Bonjour." She greeted, her voice reminded me of tinkling bells. "I'm Meg Giry, I'm your new roommate."

"Bonjour." I said as I curtsied slightly. "I know who you are. Your mother told me about you." I explained.

"Alright then." She said. "Well, all I know about you is that you are Mary-Alice, our newest dancer. Would you tell me about yourself?" she asked as she sat down on the edge of one of the beds. I copied her and sat on the other one.

"Well," I began. "I'm fifteen. Before coming here, I lived in a small town outside of Versailles with my parents. They are the ones who trained me to sing, play piano and dance. I came here, hoping for a job and a place to stay, after they died." My voice became quieter when I said the last part. I missed them so much.

Meg's voice became sympathetic. "Oh, I'm so sorry. What happened?" she asked.

"It was a carriage accident. They were walking down a road and an out of control horse ran over them with its cart." I explained.

"That's awful!" Meg exclaimed. "Where did you go?" she asked

"Well, I had no other family. My parents were both only children, like me. The government came and told me that they were taking our house to pay off my parents' debt. They told me that I had one more night in it and then I was to be sent to an orphanage. I didn't want to go so I ran away in the night. I knew that I wanted to come here, but I had no money for travel. So I started on foot. I would sleep on the streets and I found change on the street for food. Sometimes, shop owners would pay me a little to clean, so I could buy food. One time, someone even gave me enough money to take a carriage a few miles so I wouldn't have to walk. It took me about a month, but I got here." I explained. When I looked up at Meg, her face looked horrified.

"That's terrible! Something could have happened to you! What if you had gotten sick or hurt?" she asked.

I laughed a little. "I don't know what I would have done. But really Meg, it wasn't that bad. I made it here, didn't I?"

"Well yes, but it is the middle of winter, it must have been freezing!"

"Meg, listen to me. It was hard out there, but I am here and I am fine. I don't even have to think about it any more. Okay?" I asked. I was afraid this was how people were going to react. Well, actually, I was more afraid that if I told somebody, they would report me. Because technically I was an illegal runaway.

"Alright." Meg said, appearing to calm down a little. Well, I have some things that I need to get done, but I will be back later. Mother will come here to bring you to your rehearsal. Will you be alright alone until then?" she asked.

"Yes, I'll be fine. Thank you Meg." I said. As she left the room I smiled. Meg was so nice. Maybe she was my friend.

I still had a while before my afternoon rehearsal, so I decided to write. I pulled my bag onto my bed and took out the only things that were in there: paper and a few pens.

I had always been a writer. As long as I could remember I had loved it. When I was little I would write silly little stories but as I got older, I began to write music. I had used one of my pieces for my audition earlier. But I had much longer ones, some with lyrics and some without. My mother and father would always tell me that instead of writing a bunch of random pieces that I should make some that all went together, an opera. I had tried once, but it hadn't really worked. The way I would write was, if I would feel a certain emotion strong enough, I would write a piece that sounded like it. That is what it was to me: music is what feelings sound like. I was never able to write good music based on a pre thought idea.

Right then was a perfect time to write because I was feeling so many emotions. I wrote furiously for what seemed like only minutes, but it must have been hours because before I knew it I heard a knock on the door.

"Mary-Alice," Madame Giry said behind the closed door. "Its time for rehearsal."


	3. Chapter 3

**So here it is, Chapter 3! Sorry this one took longer than the first two. Please continue to read and review! And thank you to 13sapphire13 and RedDeathLvr for your reviews! Enjoy!**

I jumped up to open the door. As the door opened, Madame Giry stepped into my room. She looked around and her eyes landed on the piles of papers sprawled out on my bed.

"What is this?" she asked inquisitively. She stepped towards my bed and picked up a few papers from the top and began to read them. I ran over to her.

"Oh, please Madame." I said quickly. "It's nothing. Nothing worth reading. Just some worthless notes…" I pleaded as she continued reading them. She was reading my newest song. It was one that I had started while I was still on my way to the opera house. I had stopped working on it, though, the last week or so because I had really lost my inspiration. The last week of traveling was the hardest for me. I was tired and was beginning to feel like I was never going to make it. But now that I was here, my mind was back in it.

"You wrote this?" Madame Giry asked after a minute of silence. I looked down at the floor.

"Yes Madame." I said quietly. I really hadn't wanted her to read it but I wasn't about to just take it out of her hands.

Her only response was a nod of her head. She put the papers back down on my bed and looked back up at me.

"Well, it is time for rehearsal. You will wear the same costume that you wore for your auditions for the time being. Usually you would wear ribbons in your hair to tie your hair back, but we don't have any spares at the moment, so you will have to just leave your hair the way it is." She told me. I nodded.

I followed her out of the room and to my first practice.

… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …

I opened the door and entered my room quietly. I didn't know if Meg would be in there trying to rest and I didn't want to disturb her if she was. She wasn't there. I let out a loud sigh.

The practice had gone well. Madame Giry was patient enough with me, correcting my _many_ mistakes on the simple routine she was trying to teach me. I tried as hard as I could but I just couldn't seem to get everything right. Madame Giry told me that it would get easier each time I practiced. I hoped she was right because I was going to need to learn fast.

She told me on our way to the rehearsal that the new season was going to begin its final rehearsals the beginning of March, today was the first day of February. If I wanted to perform in the season I would need to be able to execute the short routine almost flawlessly by then. I hoped that the three rehearsals a day that were two and a half hours each would be enough.

As I went over to my bed to start cleaning up the papers I noticed something out of the corner of my eye laying on the nightstand. I walked over to it.

I looked at the two hair ribbons that were placed there. They were shiny and beautiful. They were both midnight black. I touched them very lightly, as if they would break. I thought that Madame Giry had said that they didn't have any spare ribbons. Maybe someone had found some and put them there while I was rehearsing.

All of a sudden I heard the door creak open. It startled me and I jumped and spun around towards the door. I watched as Meg poked her head in the room. I let out a sigh.

"Meg!" I explained. I let out a giggle. "You scared me half to death!" I sat down on my bed.

"Sorry." Meg said. She let out a small laugh too. "So, how did your lesson go?" she asked. She took her hair out of the tight bun it was put in and let it fall down her back. "Did my mother torture you? She asked jokingly.

I laughed. "No, she was actually pretty nice. I'm surprised she had enough patience for me. I don't even think that _I_ would have had enough patience for me." I told her.

"Don't worry," Meg assured me. "You'll get better. In a few weeks you will be good enough for the stage."

I sighed. "Meg, I hope so." I explained to her how soon I needed to be able to perform for the upcoming season.

"It's okay." She said. "Trust me, after a month with my mother, you will be as good as professional." she said as she laughed. I laughed with her.

"So," she started. "It's about noon. Lunch starts in a minute, do you want to go down and eat?" she asked.

"Okay." I answered. It had been a while since I had eaten with anyone. This would also mean that I would have to meet some of the other dancers. I hoped so much that they would like me.

We walked through the halls for a while. I tried to pay attention to the way we were going so that I would be able to get there by myself soon, but it wasn't easy. There were so many turns through so many hallways that all looked the same that I didn't think that I would ever be able to navigate this place on my own.

"Meg, how do you remember which way to go? It's like a maze in here!" I exclaimed.

"It's not that hard." She began. "I've been living here with my mother for as long as I can remember. I would follow my mother around and eventually, I remembered. And you will too. You just need some time." She assured. I smiled at her optimism.

Soon enough we arrived at the dining hall. There were two extremely long wooden tables, enough room for the fifty dancers that lived here. The tables were already starting to fill up with girls. Some looked to be about my age, but none looking younger than me, and some looked to be a little older than Meg, with just about every age in between. I followed Meg through the crowd nervously. We sat at the end of one of the tables, preventing me from having to sit next to anyone besides Meg. I would have to thank her later.

As more people arrived it became louder and louder in the large hall. The sound of girls talking and laughing filled the air. Meg introduced me to some girls who came to sit near us. They greeted me and then went back to talking to each other. I was perfectly fine with not being included in their conversations; I had never been one for talking. As the food was passed around and everyone started eating the chatter quieted a bit, but not by much. I silently ate the food that I had put on my plate. I hadn't had access to this much food for a month. I tried to only eat a small amount, knowing that I had another rehearsal after.

After forty-five minutes of quietly nibbling on pieces of bread and fruit, it was finally time to leave. Meg and I got up and left the hall, dodging through the crowed of dancers. We walked back through the maze corridors to get to our room. This time I really paid attention to the order of the turns. When we got to the closed door of our room Meg stopped and turned to me.

"I have to go to my dance rehearsal now. Yours is soon so you better get ready. I will be back soon." She said. I nodded and she walked away. I turned and opened the door.

When I walked in the room I went over to my bed, hoping to get a bit more writing done before Madame Giry came to get me. When I got to my bed there was something strange there. An envelope, sealed with a red wax skull, sat there. I hesitated before picking it up and opening it.

_Mary-Alice,_

_I humbly welcome you to my Opera House. I trust you will find joy in your new life here. I am writing this to inform you that I have heard you sing and perform your piano work. I believe that your talent holds great potential and that, with my help, you will become a great success here. Therefore, I am informing you that I would like you to become my new student so that I may tutor you and help you grow your talent. You have until tomorrow night to make your decision. If you decide to accept my offer, you will place this note in front of the mirror in your room. If you wish to decline my offer, which I highly advise against, you will discard of this note thoroughly. You will tell **no one** of this note or else a great misfortune will occur. _

_-O.G_

My hands shook at I read and reread the note. Who was if from? What did it mean? Did someone really want to tutor her in voice and piano without her even meeting them? I felt dizzy as I set the note on the table beside my bed. I sat down.

Was this a joke? It hardly seemed real. What did it mean by "a great misfortune will occur"? I really didn't want to find out anytime soon so I silently decided not to tell anyone about this. I tried to clear my head and think logically for a moment.

So it was a little strange the way it was done, but _someone_ wanted to tutor me and train me to become a better performer. Whoever it was must have heard me sing during my audition. What could be the risk? I would go to one lesson and if I decided that there was something that I did not like, I would not go to another. It seemed like a simple enough decision.

I stood up and took the note in my hand. I walked over and placed it delicately in front of the mirror that stood on the far corner of the room. I then stood up and took my new black ribbons off of the table and walked out of the room to wait for Madame Giry to come and get me for my rehearsal.


	4. Chapter 4

**OK, So I am SOOOO super sorry about the long wait! Stuff happened, I got distracted and I didn't have time to update. I am going to try and start doing at least one update a week. Thank you PhantomFan01 and for your reviews! As always, please review and ENJOY! **

"Slower, Mary-Alice! Take a larger step there! Stop looking at your feet!" I tried to listen to all of the instructions Madame Giry was yelling to me as I spun, leaped and danced my way across the practice room.

It was nearing the end of my afternoon rehearsal and Madame Giry was determined to get me to learn the first minute of the routine before the end of today. I still had one rehearsal left today, but I didn't think that I would be able to remember all of this and perfect it in just a few hours.

I spun one last time and stopped as I finished the portion of the dance. It was a very beautiful dance, but seemed too advanced for me. Madame Giry had told me that it was just one of the dances that the dancers in my section would be doing in the Opera this season.

"You need to concentrate more while dancing. You can't just do the motions and not think about them." She instructed. It was a new concept for me. Usually while I was playing piano or singing I would get lost in it, not really think about it too hard. It would just come to me. Dancing was so different.

"Yes Madame, I will remember." I promised. She nodded her head. Suddenly she stopped and looked at me questioningly. She took a step closer.

"Where did you get those hair ribbons?" she asked, motioning towards the black ribbons that I had found in my room earlier and was now wearing in two braids down my back.

"I-I found them on the table next to my bed in my room. I thought that you had put them there." I said slowly. Madame Giry had a questioning look on her face. She shook her head and then softened her expression.

"Oh well, somebody must have found some extras and put them there." She said, sounding a little distant.

"Alright, you may go back to your room now. I have another rehearsal to go to so you will have to go by yourself." She said. "Do you know the way back?"

"Um, yes." I told her. I didn't want her to have to be late to her other rehearsal because she had to walk me back. I would be able to find it easy enough.

"Good. Meg should be back in the room by now. Remember, you must be ready for your next rehearsal by six." She said as she turned and walked out the door. After she had left I knelt down and loosed my shoes.

The ballet slippers were tied very tight. Meg had had to show me how to properly tie them in our room earlier when I had no idea how to do it. The ones that I used to wear at my mothers rehearsals were a light pink with straps going across the top. These ones were a shiny white with long, thick white ribbons that laced up around my ankle.

Meg told me how important it was that they were tight so that I wouldn't twist my ankle. But the ribbons scratched against my ankle and irritated me. I untied them and tucked the ribbons into the shoe so that they wouldn't drag.

I left the rehearsal room and started walking down the hall. I remembered the way through to the ballet dormitories but couldn't remember how to get to my room. I tried to look for the painting that I knew was near my door but I couldn't find it. I walked around for a while just looking for something familiar.

The longer I walked around the more lost I seemed to get and the more frustrated I became. I had never liked being out of control and I had inherited a bit of my fathers temper that always seemed to get me in trouble. I tried to calm myself down before I became too frustrated.

I looked around looking for something or someone familiar. Most of the dancers seemed to be at a rehearsal and the few who were wandering around paid no attention to me and walked by.

I was shy. I hated having to talk to people who I didn't know. I had needed to get over it while traveling and looking for work, but here it seemed different. I was going to be living with these girls for, hopefully, a long time. I didn't need them thinking that I was stupid and couldn't even find my way around. But I was becoming a bit desperate.

Finally I decided that I needed to ask for help. I saw a girl who looked to be about Meg's age walk down the hall towards me. She had black hair that fell down her back and almost reached her waist. As she came closer I saw that she was much taller than Meg.

"Excuse me." I said quietly as she came closer. She stopped walking and looked at me.

"Yes, can I help you?" she asked. Her voice was kind. I had to look up in order to talk to her face, which was a bit embarrassing.

"I think I'm lost. I am trying to find my room." I told her. She smiled.

"Ah, you must be our newest dancer." She said. "Everyone is talking about you. So, your Meg's new roommate?" she asked. It seemed she already knew the answer. I nodded my head.

"I know just where her room is. Meg is one of my greatest friends. I dance in her section." She told me, which meant she must be a good dancer. "My name is Claire, by the way."

"I'm Mary-Alice." I told her. She smiled.

"Follow me, I will show you the way." She said as she started down the hall. Apparently I had been completely lost; it seemed I hadn't even been on the correct side of the dormitories. We walked for about five minutes before things became to look familiar. We stopped in front of the door that I knew was to my room.

"Here we are." Claire said. I looked up and her and smiled appreciatively.

"Thank you very much Claire." I said to her. Who knows how long I would have been walking around for if I had not asked her?

"Oh, it was no problem. If you need anything else, just ask me." She promised. "I must get to my room now. It was great to meet you and I look forward to seeing you again." She said as she turned around and walked off.

I turned to open the door to my room and walked in. Meg was in there sitting on her bed brushing her hair. When I came in she jumped up.

"There you are!" she exclaimed. "Mary-Alice, where have you been? Your practice ended almost an hour ago!"

"I know, I got lost." I informed her. "I tried to find my own way, but I am not that good with remembering directions. A girl named Claire helped me find my way. She said that she was a friend of yours."

"Claire!" Meg shouted. "Yes, she is one of my best friends. She dances with me and she is very good. I'm glad that you had a chance to meet her." She said and smiled.

I walked over to my bed and sat down. I pulled my hair out of the ribbons and placed them carefully on the nightstand. I took of the ballet shoes and tossed them in front of my bed.

"You should change," Meg started to say "out of that costume. You don't have practice for another hour and a half. Put on some other clothes and I will show you around more." She said.

I sat there for a second, not knowing what to say. I didn't know how to tell her that I didn't really have any other clothes, besides the worn, tattered old dress that I had come here in. I was not going to wear that around, I had been wearing it for a month and it was dirty, torn and wet.

"Um Meg?" I said softly. "I don't really have any other dresses. The one that I came here in is the only one that I have and it is…" I began to say, not really knowing how to describe it.

"Oh. I saw that when you came in." Meg said. "That is the only one you have? Hmmm, well you could wear one of mine. It may not fit very well, but it will have to work for now." She offered.

"Oh, Meg. I couldn't do that…" I began to say. I didn't want to take one of her dresses.

"Oh, nonsense!" she exclaimed. "Oh! I think I have the perfect one!" she said as she ran over to her wardrobe and opened the doors. She pulled a green dress from one of the hangers. She laid it on her bed.

"This is one of my old dresses, so it will probably fit you better than any of the others. Plus, it really brings out your eyes." She said. It was true; the green of the dress almost exactly replicated the color of my eyes.

"Here, put it on and then I will show you around some more. You can wear it to dinner and then you can get ready for your dance rehearsal." She said as she took it off of the hanger and handed it to me.

I started to take off the white dance costume that I was wearing. I began to put on the dress. Meg helped me lift it over my head and get my arms into it. When it was on I noticed that it still was a bit too big. The fabric dragged on the floor and the waist was too large.

"Hmmm" Meg said as she tilted her head to the side. "It doesn't look quite right. Oh! I think I know what to do." She said as she ran back over to her wardrobe and pulled out a thick white ribbon and then tied it around the waist of my dress until it felt like it fit better. She stood back and looked at it.

"Much better, but you still need to get your own dress. How about this. Tomorrow is Sunday and we have the morning off. I get paid to go to the market every Sunday morning and do the food shopping for the week. You come with me and then after we are done we can go buy you a dress of your own. How does that sound?" she asked me.

"It sounds great." I said. She smiled. She then led me out the door and out of our room.


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey! So I wanted to get another chapter out quickly to make up for having such a huge delay on the last one and because the last chapter didn't really go as I originally wanted. Thank you to 13sapphire13 for your review and to for your review last week. (I tried to put you in the thanks in the last chapter but for some reason it would show up on my computer but not when I uploaded it.) Remember to review!**

"And this," Meg said as she motioned to a large open room "is the sitting room for all of the dancers. It is the place where some of us will come on Sunday mornings when we have no rehearsals." I stepped into the room. It had four large couches and a few chairs. At the far end of the room there was a large window with a wooden ledge where someone could sit. It looked like a comfortable place to sit and talk with friends.

"And that concludes our tour of the Opera Populaire." Meg said with a smile as I stepped out of the room. "We should be getting to dinner now. It is almost five." We turned and started walking down the hall.

The tour with Meg had been more fun than I thought it would be. She was very funny and knew a lot about the building. She showed me all of the places that I would need to know and I paid close attention on how to get to each of them. I still wasn't confident that I wouldn't get lost, but I hoped that now it would be a bit easier.

We continued walking down the long hallways until we reached the dinning hall. It was already filled with girls and the noise was even louder than it had been at lunch. We sat in the same spots as we had during lunch and waited for the meal to begin.

… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …

As I laid in my bed I thought of the events of, what seemed like, the longest day of my life. When it had started I had still been homeless, still living on the streets. I had known that I would arrive that day and was very excited. Now, here I was. I had a bed, a job and a friend. It was more than I had had in over a month.

Rehearsals were challenging but I loved them. Madame Giry was strict but I could tell that she wanted me to succeed. I would work my hardest so that I would be able to perform in the upcoming season and show her that her work on me wouldn't be wasted.

Meg was a great friend. She was charming, funny, and very kind. She had agreed to share a room with a stranger, which is something that I didn't know that I would do if faced with it. She was beautiful and, from what I had heard, an amazing dancer. I hoped that I would be able to learn from her. I wanted to be just like Meg.

A small chill ran up my spine as I thought about the mysterious note that had found its way into the room. Somebody had heard me sing play the piano and had enjoyed it enough to want to tutor me. But why hadn't they signed it? How did they even get into my room and why did they want me to put the letter in front of the mirror, of all places? I suppose I would just find out the next evening.

… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …

I was quickly walking through the corridors of the dormitories. It was past noon and I was late for my rehearsal with Madame Giry. Very late. I had come back to the room after lunch to get changed. Meg had walked me back to the room but could not stay because she had her own rehearsal to go to. I had changed into my white dance costume, complete with the black hair ribbons. I had then realized that I had no one to walk me to my lesson.

I was on the verge of tears as I began to run down the long hallways. I was more than twenty minutes late at that point. Madame Giry had made a point of telling me how important it was to be on time for my lessons. And here I was, late on my second day. What would she say? Would she realize that she had made a mistake in hiring me and fire me from the ballet corps? Tears were profusely flowing down my face when I thought of this. I had ruined my one chance at a home, friends and a job in the place that I had been dreaming about my whole life.

As I thought of these things and with the tears stinging my eyes to a point where I couldn't actually see I had stopped paying any attention to the direction in which I was going. I was mostly running down the halls turning wherever there was a turn, hoping that somehow I would find my way to the correct room. I ducked under and around areas in hopes that it would somehow transport me to where I needed to be.

It was because of this that I hadn't noticed when the halls became severely darker and the floors went from wood to dark, damp stone. I stopped when I realized these drastic changes.

Where was I? How had I gotten here? There were still long halls but now they were dark, damp and stone. I stood absolutely still. I wiped the tears from my eyes so that I would be able to see better. I tried to see to the end of the corridor but it was so dark that I could barely see a few feet in front of my face.

I began to shake with cold. The skirt and short sleeves of my costume did nothing to protect me from the chilly and damp air. I slowly began to walk down the unknown hallway. I would stumble every so often when my feet hit an uneven piece of stone on the ground.

As I walked further down the hallway I could start to hear the faint sound of dripping water. As I continued to walk I started to wonder if there was ever an end to this hall. It must be much larger than the ones that I had been walking through earlier. When I finally found the end of the straight hallway I sighed in frustration, there were two ways I could turn.

I paused for a moment, wondering which way I should go, before I decided to go to the right. As I walked down the eerie passageway, I found that it did not get any brighter or easier to see. I found myself walking faster and faster. I was scared.

Soon I was running, not bothering to think about which way to turn when I would come to the end of a hallway. I just wanted to find someway, anyway out.

I continued to run for at least ten minutes. Tears had begun flowing down my face again. My breath was becoming jagged and uneven as I became tired from running and crying. I kept going though, not wanting to stay in that place any longer.

As I ran through corridor after corridor and made turn after turn I became lightheaded and dizzy. It may have been from running in pure darkness or from the incomparable panic that was going through my body. The sound of the dripping water became louder and louder as the ground seemed to become more damp.

I was completely lost in a maze of stone and was too far in to have any clue how to get back. I had been in this area for twenty minutes.

"I'm never going to find my way out." Was the last thing I remember thinking before I fell on the slippery stone floor and hit my head, blacking out.

**AH! Intense! Well, I decided to be nice and post two chapters this time. Enjoy the extra chapter. **


	6. Chapter 6

**I didn't want to keep you all waiting. :) So I'm going to try to write a little in another character's Point of View. Tell me how it goes and if you guys say it works I will work it into more parts of the story. Please review and tell me how you like the other POV and how you like the story so far! **

**ERIK**

The first thing I heard was the footsteps. Starting slowly and then picking up pace as they grew nearer. Then I could hear the staggered breathing getting louder and closer. I stood up from the bench that was placed in front of my organ. Who was this, invading my private chamber? I picked up my Punjab Lasso and fled over to my boat. This invader would regret ever stepping foot into my home.

I moved the boat out into the water swiftly and silently. This person would be taken by surprised. The boat swiftly moved through the water as I listened for more noise coming from this intruder. The loud breathing gave away their exact location. This person would serve as no hindrance to me.

As I steered to boat into the landing there was a loud shriek that was cut off by a thud. I was surprised to hear that the yell belonged to a girl. I dismounted the small boat and ran over to the place where the sound came from.

As I approached the small person laying crumpled on the ground, I noticed the small puddle of blood forming around her head. She must have slipped on the wet ground as she was running and hit her head quite hard.

I started to wonder why she was even down here in the first place when I recognized the bright red hair spread on the ground. I took a step closer to the small girl and saw her features closer up. It was her, the girl who had astounded me with her musical abilities.

I had only gone to her audition because I had made it my business to approve each performer who came to my opera house. I had also taken it upon myself to take care of any performer hired that did not meet my standards.

She first captured my attention with her selection of song choice when she sung. Of course others had used it in their auditions, trying to have the same results as the first girl who auditioned with the piece first around five years ago, but none of them had had even come close to the same level of perfection that Christine had accomplished with it. This girl was the first to come close. She had a good range and was able to put the proper amount of emotion into the song. I heard potential.

That alone wouldn't have been enough to make me send her the note the way I had. It wasn't until that I heard her play the piano that I was truly convinced. The notes that came from her fingers flowed so perfectly and naturally. She seemed to get lost in the music. And when I had learned that she had even written the piece, I was impressed.

Her dancing hadn't been spectacular; it showed potential, but nothing amazing. It reminded me of another young dancer years ago.

Now seeing this girl crumpled on the ground, bleeding badly from the wound on her head, it made me do something that I believed that I would never do under any circumstances.

I carefully scooped her into my arms and started to carry her back to the small boat. She seemed a bit too light for what assumed was her age. I knew her particular circumstances that she had been through in the past month and knew that this was to be expected.

I carefully lowered her into the boat, making sure that her head was supported properly. As I stroked the boat smoothly through the water I thought of the time and how she was supposed to be at one of her dance rehearsals. I would need to alert Madame Giry of the reason for her absence soon so that she wouldn't be mad at her. I had already informed her of my intentions of tutoring this girl, so I was sure she would understand.

We reached the land and I slowly lifted the girl out of the boat and carried her to a small couch. I dressed the large cut on her head and attempted to wash some of the blood from her already red hair. When this was done I carried her over to the large swan shaped bed that was in the far corner of my home. I gently laid her down and closed the black curtain. I assumed she would stay unconscious long enough for me to go inform Madame Giry of the young dancers whereabouts.


	7. Chapter 7

**Sorry that I took so long on this chapter! I have so many ideas and I'm really excited to get them into the story. I would also like to specify something. Unless I write that it is in another character's point of view, it is in Mary-Alice's. It's just because she is my main character and it will be through her POV through most of the story. If it is confusing to anyone, just leave a review telling me to specify when it is Mary-Alice's POV as well as others. So please remember to keep reviewing! Enjoy!**

The first sensation that I felt upon waking was pain. The pure, excruciating pain in my head felt nearly impossible to bear. I winced quietly.

When I opened my eyes and caught a glace of my surroundings I sat up quickly. My head spun from the speed and a sharp jolt of pain shot through my head. I put my hand to my forehead in an attempt to steady the spinning room. I realized I had no idea where I was.

My eyes scanned the unfamiliar area. The darkness was the first thing I noticed, before I realized that I was surrounded in a dark, translucent veil of black fabric. It ran around the perimeter of the large bed I was sitting in. It had blood red, soft bedding. It also appeared to be in the shape of a bird.

I looked around the place again. It was large and I saw nobody else. There were candles all around. I looked farther off and I saw what looked like a lake. I started to breath quickly. Where was I?

I strained my memory to try to remember what had happened before I had fallen asleep. I could vaguely remember what I had been doing, but it was like looking through thick haze.

I remember running, I was lost. It was dark and damp. I was tired and scared. That was it.

As I was struggling to remember any more details I could pull from my mind, I noticed the faint noise of something like a piano; an organ maybe? It sounded like it was close by but it was being playing quietly. I sat further up, making sure to move slowly as to not make my head spin any more than it already was. That's when I noticed the gauze that was tightly wrapped around my head.

I slowly stepped out of the bed and ducked carefully under the black shade. I took a few careful steps towards the noise. I then noticed the giant, grand black organ. It was up a few steps and on a high platform.

Then I saw him. His back was facing towards me so I couldn't see his face. I could see, though, the back cape that hung from his neck and spread out on the floor behind him and his black, slicked back hair. He continued to quietly play the instrument, oblivious to the fact I was standing there. I tried to remain silent so that I wouldn't disturb the beautiful melody that he was playing.

He paused a moment to scribble something down on the sheet of music in front of him. I quietly, though I didn't know why, sighed. This caused him to abruptly stop his writing and quickly snap his head to face towards me. He stood up quickly, showing that he was _very_ tall.

The first thing that caught my eye was the bone white mask that took up almost a whole side of his face. It shaped perfectly to his face. The features on the other side of his face showed that he must have been in his mid thirties. His blue eyes shone as they aimed towards me. His features softened a bit when he saw me.

"You're awake." He stated. His voice was somehow both booming and musical at the same time. He took a careful step down one of the steps from the organ and towards me.

"How does you head feel?" he asked as he closed the rest of the distance between us. I couldn't find the words to answer him.

Who was he? Why was I here? Why did he talk to me as if he knew who I was? Did he know what had happened to me? My eyes widened as he lead me towards a chair a few steps away. He chuckled a bit at my terrified expression.

"You probably would like to know who I am." He guessed. I nodded, the motion causing a sharp pain to shoot through my head. I quietly winced.

"Well," he started "You were wandering through the halls leading towards this place, though I still don't quite know why or how you got here. I thought you were an intruder. Of course when you fell, knocking yourself out, I saw that you were not. I did recognize you."

"H-how?" I managed to stammer. How did this man know me? I was almost positive that I had never seen him before in my life.

"Your audition, of course." He answered plainly. "I saw you audition. But you knew that."

"What?" I choked out. This man was talking in riddles! I had no clue of what he was talking about. As far as I knew, the only people who had seen me audition were Monsieurs Andre and Firmin, Madame Giry and the stage crew.

"You haven't figured it out yet?" he questioned. I was completely lost. "The note." He hinted. My eyes widened.

"O.G?" I questioned. Was this truly the man who had sent me the note requesting to be my musical tutor? He gave a small smile and nod, confirming my theory. My mind raced.

"B-but, why are you here? Where are we?" I questioned.

"We are in my home." He answered. "The basement of the opera house to be exact." I couldn't believe it. Could somebody really live down here? Did anyone know that this place even existed?

"Now that I have answered your questions," he began "I would like you to answer a few of mine." I gave a small nod and he continued.

"First off, I would like to know your name."

"Mary-Alice." I answered quietly. "My name is Mary-Alice."

"Well then, Mary-Alice, how did you get down here? I was led to believe that this place was quite hard to find."

"I-I'm not exactly sure." I managed to stammer. "I was lost and I wasn't paying attention to where I was going." I tried to remember more details to give him. "I was going to… my rehearsal!" I shouted as I remembered where I was headed, and where I was supposed to be right now.

"Monsieur, I must get to my dance rehearsal! I'm very late!" I said in a panic. I didn't know what time it was but I was sure that the rehearsal would be at least half over by now. I was terrified of what Madame Giry was thinking at that moment.

"No," he said, interrupting my panicked state. "Your dance rehearsal is over by now. It is about four o'clock." He informed me. He must have noticed my eyes grow wide with fear because he then said, "You needn't fret. Madame Giry has been notified of the reason for your absence. She has given you the rest of the night off so that your head may heal a bit." I exhaled loudly.

"My head?" I questioned. I knew that my head was still feeling awful pain, but how did he know that? Then I remembered the gauze that I had found wrapped around it.

"What happened to my head?" I asked him.

"You fell and you hit your head on the ground. You were bleeding quite badly and you had fallen unconscious." He informed me. It all made sense now. Why my head hurt, why I had been in an unfamiliar bed and why there was gauze wrapped tightly around my forehead.

"Now," he began "I must change the dressing on your head so that it doesn't get infected." He led me to a small chair across the room. It was next to a table. The surface was covered in many small bottles and cups of liquids in various colors. I sat down on the chair.

He slowly unwrapped the gauze from around my head. When the air hit my exposed skin it stung the spot where I assumed the cut was. He placed the soiled fabric on the table. I gasped when I saw how much of the white fabric was stained with a heavy red. Had I really bled that much?

"This may sting a bit." He warned quietly. "Try to stay still." He said as he picked up one of the bottles of liquids and carefully poured some of it onto a new, clean piece of white fabric. He then brought it to my head and started to dab the injured area with it.

I quickly sucked in some air. It stung so badly! What was this liquid that felt like it was setting my skin on fire? I tried to listen to his warnings not to move but it was hard to resist the temptation of clutching my hands to my head.

After a few minutes, the stinging started to fade a bit and I let out a relieved sigh. When he was done dabbing my head with the damp cloth he picked up a new, longer piece of white fabric and tightly wrapped it around my head. After all of that pain, my head actually did feel a great bit better.

"Thank you Monsieur." I said quietly. I looked at the floor, unsure of what to do next.

"Now, as you know, the reason that I sent you that note was because I saw potential in your musical abilities." He began to say. "I would like to become your teacher. I will train your voice and your piano skills. If you should agree, you shall train here every evening. But I must warn you, it will not be easy. These lessons will be demanding and difficult. But in the end, the results will astound you."

I thought about my option for a moment. I had already decided that I wanted to accept his offer when I had received his note, but know that I knew what the real circumstances were; I wasn't so sure of my decision. I thought that these lessons would take place in a rehearsal room, like the one that I trained in with Madame Giry. Maybe even in the chorus room. But I had _never_ thought that it would take place here. But this man, he interested me. He had been impressed with me and then had saved me. I wanted to learn more about this mysterious man who lived behind that white mask.

The mask. I wondered why he wore it, but I knew better than to ask in case he would be insulted. I decided to keep my curiosity myself for now.

"I would like to take these lessons, Monsieur. I would like to learn." I said quietly. I wasn't sure that I was making the smartest decision, but I was sure that I would regret not finding out more about this man.

He gave a small smile and a nod at my answer. "Very well." He answered. "These lessons shall start tomorrow evening. I shall come and get you from your room after your final dance lesson of the day."

"Now," he began to say. "You must get back to your room. Madame Giry will be there to check on you soon. But first," he said as he picked up a small bottle with an almost clear liquid inside of it.

"I need you to drink this. It will dull some of the pain in your head, especially when you move. Which should be helpful when you dance." He said as he held the bottle up to me to take.

I carefully took it in my hand and held it for a moment. I wasn't sure that I should take it. What did I know of this remedy? The only time I had ever taken medicine was when I was eleven and had a bad fever. My parents had brought in a doctor who had given me medicine. But I was pretty sure that this man was not a doctor, so how would he have acquired this medicine and how was I to be sure of the effects it would have? How could I trust him?

"Mademoiselle," he said quietly. "You must drink it for it to work." He said, impatience edging in his voice. He must have seen the bit of fear in my face.

"Trust me; it will have only the desired effects. I promise." I don't know why but the way his voice sounded made me suddenly feel calmer. I took a deep breath and raised the container to my lips.

The liquid was cool and slid down my throat. I cringed at the dreadful taste that filled my mouth. It was awful! I scrunched my face up out of disgust.

"I know," he said, almost sympathetically. "Its taste isn't very pleasurable but the results are worth it." I nodded as I placed the small bottle back on the table.

He led me over to where the lake started. There was a small boat tied there. I offered me a hand to help me get in. I took it hesitantly and carefully stepped in. He got in after me and picked up a long, pole and began to row through the water. The sound of the boat moving swiftly through the water was comforting.

Before I knew it, we were at a landing and we dismounted the boat. He led me through what looked like the same halls that I had gotten lost in earlier. But this time, with his guidance, we navigated without a problem. Sooner than I had expected, we reached a door. But was it even a door?

It was almost clear; I could pretty easily make out the room on the other side. Was that _my_ room? He stepped in front of me and pushed the glass aside. I stepped through and sure enough, I was in my own room. I turned to face the passageway. It was the mirror.

"Thank you monsieur. For everything." I said quietly, hoping he would understand how truly grateful I was for his help. I was about to turn back around when I suddenly remembered something.

"Oh and monsieur? Thank you for the black ribbons." I said as I lightly touched one of them that was still in my hair. He gave a small chuckle as I turned back to face my bed.

"Good evening mademoiselle." I heard his smooth voice say. I turned around to face him but when I did, he was gone. Not a trace of him ever being there. Just a normal mirror.


	8. Chapter 8

**So, here is the next chapter! Thank you to all of my amazing reviewers. Everything you say inspires me and helps me write better. Enjoy! **

The rest of the day went by in a blur. Madame Giry had come to my room about ten minutes after I arrived there. She checked my head, but was oddly silent. She was in and out of the room in a matter of minutes.

Meg had come in soon after to take me to dinner. I half listened as she talked endlessly about how, the next morning, she would take me to the market place with her and then we would go dress shopping for me. She seemed to be quite excited.

Dinner seemed to drag on. I sat there quietly picking at my food. I wasn't particularly in the mood to eat. After what seemed like hours, but in reality was only forty-five minutes, the meal was over and Meg and I walked back to our room. Meg changed into her dance costume and left to go to her evening lesson. I was alone in our room.

I had the night off from dance lessons because of my head. I took advantage of the silence and took out my writing supplies. I had some new inspirations that I was dying to put to music.

I wrote in my own world. In this world time seemed to go by much faster than it actually did. Before I knew it Meg returned from her lesson. She changed into her nightclothes and I did the same.

Meg was like the sister that I had never had. After I changed she showed me how to braid my hair so that in the morning it would be curly. She made me laugh with her stories of old times at the Opera House. She even gave me dance advice. At one point she wanted to demonstrate a specific move and then wanted me to replicate it. Our small room wasn't exactly spacious enough for ballet, so we both ended up bumping into furniture and falling over, giggling the whole time.

Too soon I began to feel tired. I wanted to stay up, to talk more with Meg, but I knew that I had to be up early tomorrow morning to go shopping with her. I was excited; I had never been to Paris before and was excited to actually see a part of the city.

I said goodnight to Meg and fell asleep quickly.

… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …

_I was running through a dark empty road. I could see nothing in front of or behind me. Nothing but a dark figure. I didn't know why, but I was terrified of it. No matter how fast I ran I couldn't get away, the figure still pursued me. The figure was getting closer. I tripped, landing face up in the road. As I looked up I saw the dark figure approaching. I struggled to get up but I couldn't. The figure was at my side. As it lowered itself towards me the only thing I saw was a white, glowing mask. I screamed. _

… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …

"Mary-Alice, wake up!" I heard a voice say. I felt someone shaking my shoulders and I woke up. I quickly sat up, breathing heavily. I looked around and saw Meg's worried expression looking at me.

"You were dreaming." She said softly. "You screamed so I woke you up. Did you have a nightmare?" she asked. I nodded my head.

"Well, don't worry. Everything is fine. You are fine." She said as she softly stroked my shoulder. I took a deep breath. I was fine; it had only been a dream. But it had seemed so _real._ I had only ever seen a white mask like that once before.

"Are you okay?" Meg asked after a moment. I took a deep breath and nodded. "Good. Well, its morning. We should probably be getting ready to leave." She said as she stood up.

"You will just have to wear the same dress of mine that you wore last. I'm afraid it is the only dress of mine that will come close to fitting." She said as she pulled the green dress from her wardrobe. She handed it to me. I took off my nightclothes and slipped the dress over my head. Before I was even done straightening out the dress, Meg was already in hers. It was a soft lavender color that looked lovely with her hair.

She came over to me and helped me tie the thick white ribbon around my waist.

"There." She said. "It looks perfect. Well, we have a bit of time before we have to leave. I'll do your hair." she said as she began to pull out the braids that we had put in the night before. She began gently pulling a brush through it to smooth it out. She smiled and pushed me over to the mirror.

My hair, instead of being stick straight as it always was, now had a beautiful wave that framed my face perfectly. It even made the color of my hair, the dark red that I hated and always stood out against all other girls' brown or blond hair, look somewhat pretty. I smiled at the results.

"It's perfect!" Meg said. She handed me a white shawl. "We can go now. To the market place first and then to the dress shop." She said as she took my hand and led me out the door.

We walked through the Opera House and then out the grand doors of the lobby. The morning air was crisp and cool. I hugged the shawl around my shoulders tightly. I followed Meg as she walked down the streets.

In a matter of minutes we arrived at the outdoor marketplace. It was so crowded! I had been to marketplaces with my mother before, but we never lived in a city and it had had much less people. I did my best to stay close to Meg in fear that I would get lost from her. God knows I would never find her in this crowd.

"Now," Meg said loudly so I could hear her over the crowd. "I will show you which vendors we need to buy from. I'm actually glad you are here to help me carry what we need. I always need to buy so much of everything because it is for the kitchen for the ballet dormitories." She said with a smile. With so many ballerinas I knew we would need a lot of food. Could we even carry it all by ourselves?

The answer was no. We had to hire a boy to help us carry everything. When we had to buy ten pounds of apples and ten pounds of oranges, I knew we were in trouble. And that was just the beginning.

After two hours and pounds upon pounds of flour, sugar, salt and lord knows what else, we were finished. Meg hired a carriage to take the groceries back to the Opera House. After Meg paid the coachman she turned to me.

"And now," she said excitedly. "We shall go to the dress shop!" She took my hand and started running through the end of the market. After bumping into many people we finally came out of the crowded area. Meg slowed down a bit and released my hand but continued to walk quickly through the street. After a minute we came to a small shop.

We entered the quaint store and a bell rang. An older woman wearing a light grey dress came over to us.

"Welcome Meg. How can I help you today?" she asked with a smile.

"My friend here needs some new dresses. Do you think you can help us?" Meg asked, motioning to me.

"Of course!" she said. She turned towards me. "I will have my assistants take your measurements. Meanwhile, Meg why don't you come with me and pick out some fabrics." She said. Meg followed her into the back of the shop as two girls around Meg's age came towards me.

"Take your dress off and stand on the platform." One of the girls instructed as she took out a long measuring tape. I did as she said. The girls started to measure every inch of my body. Lucky for me, they were quick and soon enough they handed my dress back and I changed back into it.

After I was fully clothed the girls took me to the back of the shop where Meg was standing with the owner. There were dozens of swatches of fabric in all different colors and textures in front of them. Meg looked up at me and smiled.

"Mary-Alice, come over here." She said, motioning to the seat next to her.

"Tell me what you think of these." She instructed as she showed me five different colors of fabric.

I was never one for fancy clothes. I always just wore what my mother bought me; I never really inserted my opinion. It never really interested me. Meg seemed to be the complete opposite. She talked endlessly about each color pointing out how it would go with my hair, skin tone, and many other things that I didn't pay much attention to.

I tried to show the proper amount of enthusiasm, nodding my head and giving my approval for all the colors she showed me. I suppose I was convincing enough because Meg finally picked up the colors she liked, handed them to the owner and we walked out of the store. The dresses would be delivered in a few days.

We took a carriage back to the Opera House.

… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …

When we got back to the Opera House it was about time for lunch. It didn't interest me much to go sit in the loud, crowded room, but I was hungry from skipping breakfast.

When we sat down the room was already full. It seemed to be louder than before, but this time everyone seemed to be saying the same thing: Christine Daae was coming to the Populaire.

When I heard this I couldn't believe it. The actually Prima Dona was coming back? I asked Meg if it was true. She confirmed it. Apparently, she and the Vicomte came to visit once a year for the opening night of a season. There would also be the annual Masquerade Ball the night after the opening to celebrate their visit. All of the performers in the Opera and other people from all around the country were invited. I was very excited; this would be my first party.

After eating and sitting through the chatter about Christine, we left the dinning hall and returned to our room. I quickly changed into my ballet costume and Meg brought me to my lesson.

**I know this chapter was a little short but I am already working on the next one and it will hopefully be up the beginning of the week. Remember to keep reviewing! Thank you!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hey Guys! So, I know that I said this chapter would be up sooner but I got really busy and just didn't have time to finish it. So, I need all of your help with deciding something. I got an idea for a new story (another POTO, of course) but I'm not sure if I want to start if before I finish this one. Don't worry; this story is far from over. So I need you guys to tell me, should I start the new story which means there would be slower updates (I would probably work on a different story every week because each chapter usually takes a week)? So make sure to tell me what you think I should do. I think my idea for this new story is pretty good and I think you guys will really enjoy it! Leave a review on what you think I should do! Thank you and enjoy this chapter!**

"Mary-Alice, are you listening?" Meg asked suddenly.

"Yes, yes of course." I lied quickly. She looked at me questioningly.

"Well, maybe not…" I admitted quietly.

"I _said_ that Madame LeBlanc, the dress shop owner, sent a message to us today. Your dresses are finished and we can pick them up!" she said excitedly. I wasn't surprised, it had been three days since Meg and I had been to the dress shop, I figured they must be ready any day.

"That's great Meg." I said absent mindedly. She huffed loudly.

"You know Mary-Alice, I wish that you would at least _try_ to act happy. You will finally have your own clothes that actually _fit_ you."

"Sorry Meg." I said. "I'm excited, I truly am. My mind is just on something else right now." The truth was my mind was on _someone_ else.

I had been going my music lessons every night after my evening dance rehearsals. Every night he would come get me from my room before Meg came back and he would bring me to his home. He didn't speak much, only when instructing me. So far we only worked on singing scales and I was beginning to get quite bored with it. When I questioned him he had said that I needed to perfect the basics of singing before I even started to think about working on a full song. I was a bit insulted but I got over it quickly.

I tried my hardest not to argue with anything he said. I wanted him to like me, maybe even talk to me outside of telling me what I was doing wrong. And I thought that the night before after our rehearsal, I made some progress. As he dropped me off back at my room, instead of the usually "Good evening mademoiselle", he used my real name. He probably didn't think of it as a big deal, but I did.

"Good." She said contently. "I would bring you to go get them myself, but it is raining quite hard so I hired a coachman to bring them here. He should be here any minute with them!" she said excitedly. She waited for my expression to change into something more excited but when it didn't, her face fell.

"Mary-Alice, is something wrong?" she asked me. "You seem… distant." I shook my head quickly.

"No, no Meg. I'm fine. I promise. I'm just… tired." I lied smoothly. "Yes, tired. You know, from all of this dancing. I guess I'm just not used to it yet." I wished that I could tell her the truth. She had been so nice to me since the first day I was there, I hated lying to her. But I knew that telling her what I was really thinking about was _not _an option.

"Alright." Meg said. She didn't seem sure, but she accepted the answer. "Don't worry, you'll get used to all of it. It just takes time." She gave me a weak smile. Just then, Madame Giry walked into the room.

"Meg" she said as she pushed open the door she was carrying a large box. "This was just dropped off by a coachman for you." She placed the box on the ground in front of Meg's bed. Meg jumped up and squealed.

"There here!" she yelled as she picked up the box and put it on her bed. "Mary-Alice, come here!" she said as she pulled out the first dress from the box. She squealed again.

"It's beautiful! Absolutely perfect!" she yelled as she turned the dress around to show me. It was long and was a soft pink. I didn't remember picking out _that_ color…

"You must go try it on! Right now!" she instructed as she shoved the garment into my arms. Madame Giry laughed quietly as she turned to face the door.

"Have fun girls." She said as she walked out of the room and closed the door behind her.

I took off my ballet costume and pulled the dress over my head. I straightened it out on my body. It felt weird wearing proper clothing again. I had been wearing Meg's dresses for the past few days and they were all too large for me, causing me to constantly trip as I walked. This one felt so perfect. It just barely reached the ground, walking would no longer be a problem. It hugged my waist perfectly; it wasn't so loose like Meg's dresses were.

Meg looked towards me. "It's beautiful!" she shouted. "Oh, Mary-Alice it's just perfect! You look amazing!" She walked over to me and took my shoulders, turning me towards the mirror. I looked into it.

Meg was right, the dress was beautiful. I didn't think that I would, but I loved it. I twirled slowly, inspecting the back in the mirror.

"Do you like it?" Meg asked me carefully. I looked at her and smiled.

"Of course I do Meg, it's amazing." I said. She beamed.

"Great! I'm so glad you like it! Now," she said as she turned back towards the box laying on her bed "there are still four more to try on!" she said as she began to take out the next dress. I sighed quietly. This was going to be a long afternoon.

… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …

I pranced into my room. I had just returned from a wonderful dance rehearsal. I finally felt like I perfected the first few minutes of the dance routine that I needed to learn so that I could perform in the upcoming season. Madame Giry had even told me how much I had improved in such a short amount of time. She told me that she had little doubt that I would be able to perform this season. I was elated.

I sat down on my bed so that I could take off my ballet shoes. No matter how many hours I spent wearing them, I didn't think I would ever get used to them. As I began to pull of the first shoe, I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. I turned my head towards the object that had caught my attention. A white envelope sealed with a red wax skull sat perfectly on my pillow. I took a deep breath; I had only ever received one note sealed that way. I slowly picked it up and carefully unsealed it. I began to read .

_My Young Student,_

_I apologies for the inconvenience, but I will be a bit late for your rehearsal this evening. I have some things that I need to take care of in my opera house that demand my immediate attention. I trust you know the way through the corridors past the mirror to the beginning of my lake by now. Go there and wait for me. I will not be too late so I beg for your patience. I thank you for your compliance._

_Your Humble Tutor,_

_O.G_

I sighed in relief. I had feared that he was going to give me bad news, such as he couldn't be my tutor any longer. I was glad it was nothing bad. I looked at the clock that hung on my wall; it was the time that he usually picked me up for my lessons. I put my shoe back on, I had only taken one off before the note caught my attention, and walked towards the mirror. Before sliding back the glass, I glanced behind me to make sure no one was watching. I slid back the glass of the mirror and stepped through.

He was correct about one thing, after the few evenings of practice, I knew my way to the beginning of the lake. I was proud of myself for paying enough attention to know the way.

Within minutes I saw the lake. There was a large wooden dock where the boat was usually tied, but the boat wasn't there. It was quite strange being down here alone, it was a bit eerie. I figured I was going to have to wait a while so I decided to walk up to the lake to get a better look. I took slow steps until I reached the very end of the land. It was a bit murky; I couldn't see the bottom clearly. I walked over to the dock where the boat was usually tied. It didn't seem very sturdy, but I had been on it before with him, it couldn't be dangerous.

I took a step onto it, feeling the change in the surface. The wood was cold; I could feel it through the thin fabric at the bottom of my shoe. I continued further down the long dock, almost reaching the edge. I put my hand on the wooden support where the boat was usually tied to.

It had been a few minutes and I was beginning to feel a bit bored. I started humming the beginning of my newest composition, trying to pass the time, when I saw a small spider creep across the support, very close to my hand. I quickly picked up my hand and took a step back. But when I did, my foot reached the end of the dock and slipped off. I fell into the water with a large splash.

I began to flail my arms and legs. I couldn't reach the bottom, the water was too deep. I began to panic; I didn't know how to swim. I gasped for breath before my head went under the water. I was tumbling through the water, my head was spinning. I didn't know which way was up and which was down. I threw my arms around wildly, trying to reach the surface but I had a feeling all I was doing was sinking myself deeper. My lungs began to ache, I needed air quickly. In one final attempt at saving myself I began to wildly move my arms and legs, hoping that it would somehow get me to the surface. But I was already too deep; there was no way I could reach the surface in time. My head started to become clouded and my eyes began to close. "This is it" I thought to myself.

Suddenly I felt a pair of strong arms grab my waist and start to pull me. I gasped, inhaling water as I did. Soon, I felt my face hit the air. I automatically began to try and breathe, but there was so much water in my lungs, all I could do was cough. As the arms started to pull me through the water, my eyes closed and my mind shut down.


	10. Chapter 10

**Wow, Chapter 10 already! I feel like I just started this story! Thank you to everyone who reviewed the past chapter, it really means a lot to me. So, remember to review and enjoy!**

**Erik**

I heard the splash. I couldn't see the dock yet but I could hear the shriek that no doubt belonged to her. I started to row the boat quickly towards the landing where she was supposed to be waiting for me. When I could finally see the dock, I didn't see her.

My eyes desperately searched the edge of the water, hoping that I would see her. Nothing. I looked down into the water but it was no help, there was no way to see through to the bottom, it was far too murky. I remained very still, hoping to get some glimpse of where she was. Suddenly a group of bubbles rose to the surface of the water. Without a second thought I jumped from my boat and into the water and began to swim towards the area where I saw the bubbles.

I reached the spot and I dove down, submerging my whole body under the water. I opened my eyes, attempting to see where she was. The water was brown and stung my eyes but I paid to attention to the pain; I needed to find her. Suddenly I saw a figure, a few yards away from me, thrashing around wildly. The figure stopped moving and become still. I raced over to her hoping desperately that I wasn't too late.

I came up behind her and grabbed her by the waist and began to pull her to the surface. When we reached the surface she immediately began coughing, then she went silent. I swam furiously to the shore. When we were finally were in shallow enough water, I stood to my feet and pulled her into my arms. When I reached the land I laid her down on her back.

Her eyes were closed. She wasn't breathing. I panicked for a moment before I began to push down repeatedly on her chest, trying to get her to breathe again, she _needed_ to breathe again. After a few more pushes she began to cough, spitting up water as she did. I quickly helped her sit up so she could cough up the rest of the water that was filling her lungs. When she was done coughing she lied back down and closed her eyes.

I sighed in relief. She wasn't conscious, but she was breathing. I carefully picked her up and began to bring her to my home.

… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …

I carefully set her down on the couch in the center of the room. She had regained consciousness but was shivering too hard to talk. I handed her a small towel and some dry clothes. They would be a bit large for her but they would have to work for the time being. They had been intended for someone a little bigger than her a few years ago…

"Get out of those wet clothes." I said quickly, trying to interrupt my own thoughts. "Put these on."

"T-t-thank you." She managed to stutter out. She took the clothes into her hand and I turned to leave the room so she could change.

I paced across the floor, trying to clear my mind of all the thoughts that had filled my head the past few minutes.

What if I hadn't gotten there in time? What if I had been just a few minutes later? I would have lost her for sure.

In the short time that I had with her I had, against all belief that it could ever happen, began to care for this young girl. When we had first begun our lessons she was a bit quiet but I soon learned that it was not because she was shy, but because she wanted to listen. She wanted to learn. And she was a quick learner, she absorbed everything that I told her and perfected it almost immediately.

I had also learned that she was kind. I learned this not just from our lessons, but from watching her throughout the day while she lived her life in the theater. From the way she helped a set builder after he had dropped a bucket of nails all over the hall to the way that she happily put up with the Little Giry's constant chatter over pointless topics. She was never cross with anyone.

She was devoted. No matter how many times I would make her repeat the same scales she wouldn't complain, though I could see the frustration growing in her large eyes after a few times. Not only did she try her hardest at my lessons, but after talking with Madame Giry the night before, I learned that she was improving in her dancing at an amazing rate.

I had grown fond of her. I didn't know what I would have done if she had died today. Of course it would have been my fault; I was the one who let her go alone. I should have been with her, to protect her.

I heard her soft footsteps coming up behind me. I turned around to face her. She was wearing the clothing I had given her. Her hair was still wet but at least she had stopped shivering.

"How are you feeling?" I asked.

"I am fine." She answered. She looked down at the floor. "Are you tired of having to save me yet?" she joked quietly.

I smiled at her. "Almost." I joked back. I made my voice more serious, attempting to make her understand. "Mary-Alice, you _must_ be more careful. You were lucky this time. And the last time. But one of these days I won't be there to save you. And what happens then?" I asked, not really wanting an answer.

She looked up from the floor and her big green eyes looked directly into mine. "I'm sorry Monsieur. I will try and be more careful." She said, her voice shaking a bit. I had not meant to upset her.

"All is forgiven." I said as I walked towards her. As I got closer I could see she was still shaking a bit from the cold, though not nearly as violently as before. I walked over to a wardrobe I had on the far wall of one of the rooms. I took out a small blanket and handed it to her.

"Thank you." She said quietly as she took it and wrapped it around her shoulders.

"Come over here." I said as I walked over to my small kitchen-like area. It could hardly be called a kitchen; it had only a table, two chairs and a few cupboards with a bit of food in them. I took out a cup and got a kettle that had been sitting over a fire. I poured the water into the glass and added a few tea leaves. I handed it to her.

"Drink this." I instructed. "It will help you warm up." She nodded to me as she took the cup in her hands and began to sip it. She drank slowly at first but after it had cooled down a bit she began to drink it quicker, obviously enjoying the warmth.

"Thank you Monsieur." She said as she set down the cup onto the table. "For everything." She added. I smiled at her.

"Should we start our lesson now?" she asked me. I let out a small laugh.

"Eager aren't we?" I teased. "If you feel well enough, of course we may start our lesson. Though I'm afraid we will not have as much time as usually. We have used up about half of our lesson time and Madame Giry gave me specific instructions not to make you late for bed as you need your rest." She nodded and then looked at me questioningly.

"You talked to Madame Giry? she asked. I nodded.

"Yes. She is an old friend of mine." I answered simply.

"How old? How long have you known her?"

"Since I first came to this opera house."

"And how long is that?" I laughed a bit.

"A bit curios are we? Well, that is a story for another day my young student. Now, did you want to start our lesson or do you wish to continue asking me questions that are not likely to be answered?" I asked her.

"We can start" she answered quickly as she scampered over to her usual place next to my organ. I laughed quietly at her sudden change in focus. I walked to my organ and sat down on the bench next to where she was already standing, ready to begin.

"Alright, let's start with the B minor scale." I instructed. She groaned quietly but quickly became silent when I looked up at her.

"Don't worry, we will start a song when you are ready." I told her.

"And when do you think that will be?" she questioned, obviously growing impatient. I was quickly learning that she didn't have much patience with anything tedious.

"Well, I am not sure of the exact date." I said sarcastically. She scowled at me. I laughed. "Soon." I assured her. She gave a small smile.

"Let us begin then." I said as I began to play the organ and waited for her to start singing the scale.

**So how did you like it? So, as thanks for all of the wonderful reviews I have been getting I have decided to give you an extra chapter! Enjoy!**


	11. Chapter 11

**So before reading this chapter I would reeeeally love it if ALL of you would leave a review telling me what you think about me starting a new story. I wouldn't abandon this story, but instead of updating every weekend it would be every other weekend (and on all of the other weekends I would update the other story.) It's another POTO and I really like the idea that I have. So its up to you guys. I will make my decision based on the number of people who tell me what I should do. Thank you SOOO much for reviewing (if you like getting two chapters a week remember to review and I will make this happen more often the more reviews I get! :D) So enjoy your bonus chapter!**

"Very good Mary-Alice. That was much better." He praised. I had just finished the final scale of our lesson for the day and it was a whole half octave higher than my normal range. I had struggled with it the past few days but I finally got it right.

"Well, it is about time for you to return to your chamber." He informed me. I frowned; I didn't want to go back. I had really started to enjoy our lessons; it was an escape from the real world and into one full of music. He laughed at my obvious sadness.

"Don't worry," he assured me. "Tomorrow night we shall continue. In fact, I believe that you are ready to start a song." The news shocked me.

"A song?" I questioned. "As in, not just scales. A real song?" He nodded and I beamed.

"You have improved so much in just the week you have been here. You are ready." He said with a smile.

"Thank you Monsieur!" I said with excitement. "You wont be disappointed!" I said.

"I doubt I will be." He assured. "Now, you must be getting back." I nodded. I followed him down to the boat. I climbed in carefully and he stepped in and began to row.

"So Monsieur, did you hear the news?" I asked as we continued to glide through the water.

"I don't believe so." He said. "What news, my young student?" he asked.

"Christine Daae is coming to the opera house in the beginning of the new month. She is coming to watch the opening of the new performing season with the Vicomte." I informed him. He was silent for a moment.

"Hmm, it is that time already is it?" he said to himself. "Yes," he said to me. "She had been coming for the past five years."

"Have you ever spoken to her?" I questioned. He remained silent, not answering this question. I was curious why he ignored my question but I didn't want to pry. We pulled up to the dock when he finally acknowledged my question.

"A story for another day, my young student." He said simply, not saying anything further. I took it as a signal to end the conversation.

We walked silently through the stone halls and up to the mirror. We looked in to make sure no one was inside before I stepped into the empty room. I turned towards him.

"Monsieur, I am sorry if I said something that upset you, that was certainly not my intention." I assured him. I did not want him to be angry with me. He gave me a soft smile.

"You did nothing wrong. I'm sorry if I gave you the impression that I was upset. I am not, not to worry." He said. I still didn't believe him but I wasn't about to say that.

"Good night, my young student." He said softly as the mirror closed and he disappeared into the darkness behind it.

"Good night Monsieur." I whispered quietly.

… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …

I entered the rehearsal room the next morning, ready to start my first dance lesson of the day. I smoothed out my white skirt before I greeted Madame Giry, who was already standing in the center of the room.

"Good morning Madame." I said as I went to go stand next to her.

"Good morning Mary-Alice." She said.

"Madame, may I ask you a question?" I asked quietly.

"Of course you may. What is it?" she asked.

"It is about my tutor." I said very quietly, not wanting anyone in the halls to overhear. Her face changed but she nodded, motioning me to continue.

"He told me that you two were old friends, so perhaps you know the answer to my question. He wouldn't answer it himself but it has been bothering me all night." I took a breath before I asked. "Why won't he talk about Christine Daae? What does he have against her?" Her expression became hard at the mention of the Prima Dona's name.

"What makes you think that he has something against her?" She asked quietly.

"When I mentioned that she was coming to visit the opera house, he stopped talking. He was silent for a few minutes and when he finally responded, he just said that it wasn't a story he wanted to tell at the moment. So, do you know?" I asked, sincerely hoping for her to answer. She took in a deep breath.

"I really shouldn't even be talking about it." She said after a moment. "But you are his student now and you have a right to know." She closed her eyes and waited a moment before continuing.

"Christine was a student of his. He trained her like he is training you now. She became quite successful because of his tutoring. But he was in love with her. He wanted her to stay with him, to be his. But Christine fell in love with the Vicomte. He was furious but in the end, he let her go. She left him for the Vicomte. He was heartbroken. I didn't see or hear from him for many months after she left? Finally, I heard from him. He sent me a note, saying that he was still there, as many people had presumed him dead after his disappearance. After that he has mostly been silent, I only ever hear from him when he wants something changed in the opera house. That is, until you came." She said. I waited for her to perhaps elaborate a bit, but she didn't.

"Madame, had he talked to Christine any of the times that she had visited?" I asked.

"Yes," she said. "The past three years they have spoken while she was here visiting. The first two years that she came he didn't leave his home during he whole visit, not for anything. But the past years he has talked to her and, as far as I know, it has gone fine." She answered. She sounded almost relieved.

"How long will Christine and the Vicomte stay on their visit?" I asked.

"They are coming on the 15th of March, the opening night of the Opera, and they leave on the 31st." I was a bit drawn back at the answer. I hadn't expected their visit to be so long.

"Now Mary-Alice," Madame Giry said, interrupting my thoughts. "We must begin you practice now." She instructed.

"Yes Madame." I answered obediently as I quickly took my place.

**Sorry for this chapter being so short but I didn't have as long to work on it because of it being the second chapter I wrote this week. So please, please PLEASE remember to tell me what to do regarding my new story because I don't want to do something that will upset my amazing readers :D **


	12. Chapter 12

**I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOO sorry about the late update! I KNOW that I usually update every weekend and it has been over TWO WEEKS! I was working on my first One-Shot and it pretty much just took up all of my writing time. I would REALLY appreciate it if you guys checked it out because, so far, no one has left a review. So, again, I am so sorry and PLEASE check out my new One-Shot and let me know how I did. So THANK YOU SO MUCH for your patience and enjoy the chapter! **

"No, Mary-Alice. Not like that." The frustrated Phantom corrected . I could tell that he was doing his best not to yell. "Mary-Alice, you _must_ hold that last note longer and use pay more attention to your pitch!"

He had been trying to teach me a new song for me to sing and it felt like, every two minutes, there was something that I was doing wrong. It was a truly beautiful song, but it was a bit higher than my normal range and I just couldn't do it perfectly. I honestly didn't think that I was doing all that bad, but apparently I wasn't perfect.

When we had begun the song, his corrections were calm and nice. But as the lesson grew longer, there seemed to be more and more things that I was doing wrong. I was either holding the note too long or not long enough, I was breathing at the wrong times, I wasn't putting enough emotion into a certain part, I was too loud or to quiet. I couldn't seem to get through a measure without making a mistake.

As the time went on his voice became more frustrated and I could tell he was about to yell any moment.

Every time he told me what I was doing wrong I felt like dying. I wanted so badly for his approval and I truly was working hard, but it was like he was expecting perfection on my first try at the song.

And as he became more frustrated, so did I.

As he began to replay the section of the song, I did my best to completely focus on singing it perfectly. As I sang, I could hear that the way he was hitting the keys was changing. He was hitting them a tiny bit harder and with a bit more force than his usual smooth playing; he was displeased.

He didn't stop to correct me right away. It was close enough to the end of the song that he would just wait until it was over. It angered me to know that he wasn't happy while he was listening to me, that my singing was causing him displeasure. As the song reached its last few measures I was completely livid.

The song came to a stop and it was silent for a moment. He took a deep breath in.

"Mary-Alice, I expected more from you." He began. "You were not listening to my instructions. It was like you weren't even trying!" he scolded, his voice growing louder.

"I was trying," I said in a small voice. "Honestly, I was!"

"I don't believe you!" he said. "Mary-Alice I expect a much higher standard in my students!"

"Well I am sorry!" I screamed at him. "I know that I am no Christine Daae!" As I shouted it at him I turned around, away from the organ that I was standing in front of, and ran towards the boat. Before I even thought about it, I stepped in, picked up the large pole used for propelling the boat forward, and began to push away from the landing.

"Mary-Alice!" he shouted after me. "Mary-Alice come back here immediately!" he yelled as he ran over to the edge of the land. There was nothing he could do; there was no other boat for him to take. The only other one was at the dock on the other side of the lake.

Tears streaked down my face as I clumsily stroked my way through the water. I struggled to keep myself balanced as I was standing on the boat; I knew that if I tipped over there would be no one to save me from drowning this time. By now I was far out of my tutor's sight, never mind close enough for him to swim over and save me.

'How dare he?' I thought angrily. 'How dare he yell at me that way? Tell me that I wasn't trying! Yell at me like I was some stupid child!' I was fuming and I couldn't keep the tears from rolling out of my eyes. I did my best to please him, everything I could, and he told me that I wasn't even trying. The thought made me sick.

I came up to the dock, stepped off the boat and hastily tied the boat up. I ran through the maze of stone hallways, though they weren't really a maze for me now. I knew my way perfectly and didn't even have to give a second thought as to which direction I was going in.

I came up to the mirror and looked in. I was grateful that Meg was not in the room. I pulled open the mirror glass and jumped through. I turned around and slammed it shut. The glass shuttered, but didn't smash.

I flung myself onto my bed and continued sobbing.

It must have been at least ten minutes before I stopped crying and began to think. What had I done? I had let my temper control what I did and had ruined everything. If I had only held my tongue and just listened quietly as he scolded me, none of this would have happened.

Why had I said that? Why, out of everything that I could have said, did I have to say her name? The name that I knew would hurt him the most. Of course that is why I had done it; I wanted him to hurt for a moment so that I didn't have to. But it hadn't helped; all I had done was make us both feel pain. Curse my awful temper!`

I sat up and dried my face, knowing that it must look awful. I knew that Meg would come in any minute from her evening dance rehearsal and I didn't want her to see me like that. I ran my fingers through my hair and attempted to make my face go back to normal.

Sure enough, moments later she walked through the door. She pranced in the room and twirled as she shut the door; her blonde hair flying out behind her.

"Good evening Mary-Alice!" she greeted as she took out some nightclothes from her wardrobe.

"Good evening Meg." I replied. My voice sounded all wrong, I knew she would be able to tell that I had been crying. She looked over at me questioningly and I gave her a small smile. She looked at me a moment longer but then turned away and continued to change.

After talking to her a bit about the day, she soon got into bed and turned out the light. I lied in my bed for what seemed like eternity, never even coming close to sleep. All my mind could do was keep replaying the scene of me yelling at my tutor over and over in my head.

It must have been well after midnight when I heard a small tapping on the glass of the mirror. I shot up out of my bed and faced the mirror. In the dark of the room the only thing I could see through it was a bone white mask and the outline of a dark figure. My eyes grew wide and I turned around to face Meg's bed. Thankfully her eyes were closed and she was breathing in a way that could only mean she was in a deep sleep. I turned back towards the mirror where the dark figure was motioning for me to follow. I sighed and reluctantly walked towards the mirror. I knew that he was going to be furious with me.

I slid open the glass, carefully as to not wake up Meg with any noise. He held out his hand for me as I stepped through. I took it softly and walked along with him to the dock.

He didn't step into the boat as I expected though. Instead he faced me towards him and looked at me. He didn't yell at me like I anticipated he would, but he just stood there looking at me. So I spoke first.

"Monsieur, I am so sorry." I said quietly I looked at the ground as I continued. "I had no right to yell at you that way. I am truly sorry."

Instead of agreeing with me or telling me that I was wrong like I expected, and deserved he did something else. He put his hand on my shoulder. I tilted my head up and looked at him in the eyes. The move was so unlike him, so unlike the rigid tutor that I had known since our lessons began. He gave me a small smile.

"No, my young student, you were not completely wrong." The words shocked me. "Perhaps I was a bit harsh on you for your first song." I looked at him with disbelief. There was no way that these words were really coming out of his mouth.

"But, I yelled at you." I muttered out.

"Yes, but perhaps it was necessary. I did not mean for you to think that I was comparing you to Christine. That was certainly not the case. I was so hard on you because I want you to be successful here. I want you to be seen for the true talent that you possess." I looked into his eyes and I knew that he was telling me the truth.

"Thank you." I said quietly, because I didn't know what else to say. We stood in silence for a few moments until he spoke again.

"It is late, you should be returning to bed." He instructed. I nodded. We turned around and started walking.

"By the way," he said in a slightly amused tone. "How did you find out about my… _association _with Christine?" I had to hold back a laugh as he tried to carefully choose his words to describe him and Christine.

"I really shouldn't tell you." I said in an almost teasing tone. He gave me a scowl.

"It was Madame Giry, correct?" he asked. I looked at him in awe at his accurate guess.

"How did you know?" I asked. He gave a small chuckle.

"Oh, it wasn't really that difficult. If you asked her she would tell you. She almost considers you a daughter of sorts." I gave him a questioning look.

"Honestly Mary-Alice, you are not aware of the affect you can have on people." I didn't know how to respond. He only laughed and continued to walk.

"Another day, my young student. Another day…"


	13. Chapter 13

**Hello my lovely readers! Again, thank you for your patience for last weeks update that I took ridiculously long to post. Also, I just would like to add a reminder that I have a new One-Shot posted that I would REALLY appreciate if you guys would check it out and review!**

I was lying on my bed doing nothing but absentmindedly scribbling notes down on a fresh sheet of paper. A new song had floated into my head and couldn't wait to get it on paper so I would never forget it. The room was silent besides the sound of me quietly humming to myself. For the first time in a very long time, the only emotion that I was feeling was content. I never wanted the moment to change.

Meg was at her evening lesson. It was supposed to have ended a little while earlier and she wasn't back yet so I assumed she was just staying back to talk with her mother. I loved Meg but I was happy for the silence. Every time she was in the room, she filled the air with her excited chatter. Usually I loved it, loved having someone who seemed perfectly fine with just spending her time talking with me, but I needed this time to myself.

It had been over a week since my tutor and I had our fight and, since then, our lessons couldn't have been going better. Instead of yelling and loosing his patience with me he was learning to control his temper and try to speak calmly; and I was doing the same. Of course there were a few times where we disagreed and one of us would momentarily lose our temper, but we always regained composure before anything became too out of hand.

It was almost funny the way he was beginning to act. He seemed like no one had ever challenged him before, that he always found somehow of getting his way. I learned he could be a bit scary at times when he would get angry and I guessed that is why most people never challenged him. But I knew him better and I knew he would never hurt me, so I wasn't afraid of him. Now, though, he almost never shouted at me and I guessed it was because he knew that he would not win anything by doing so.

My writing was abruptly interrupted when the door flew open. I shot up out of the bed to see what was wrong when Meg stumbled in the door.

"Mary-Alice!" she said excitedly as she ran over to me.

"What? What is it Meg? What's wrong?" I asked quickly as I ran over to her.

She spun around to face me. Her face didn't seem very worried, but more caught off guard.

"Nothing is _wrong_ I suppose. We just need to go- YOUR HAIR!" she interrupted her own thought with her nervous shriek. I self cautiously started to flatten my hair with my hands.

"What's wrong with my hair?" I asked. "Meg, what is going on?" I begged for her to tell me. She ignored me and grabbed a hair brush off of her bedside table and began to pull it through my hair. By the way that it was pulling, I guessed that it had become a little more tangled than I had known.

"Meg!" I pleaded. I couldn't bare not to know what was causing her to act this way.

"Don't worry Mary-Alice." She reassured. "Nothing is wrong. There is just someone here that we need to meet." She said as she worked through a particularly large snarl in the back of my head.

"Who?" I asked excitedly. Whoever it was must be pretty important if they are causing Meg to act this strange.

"His name is Alexander de Changy. He is Raoul's cousin. He has been living with Raoul and Christine for about a year since his parents died. He is coming here for the rest of the month to study the Opera House. He will stay here until Christine and Raoul come, and then he will leave with them." She said as she finished off my hair by tying in one of her white ribbons to match the white rehearsal outfit I was still wearing. She took my hand and led me out the door.

We ran down the hallways and to the sitting room for the dancers. It seemed like all of the dancers were in there at the same time, which the room was not big enough for. Girls were pilling on the few chairs and couches.

Meg was pulled from my side by a few girls sitting on a couch. I sighed and walked over to the giant window at the end of the room. I climbed into the large windowsill and sat on it. It wasn't like I was going to find a spot anywhere else.

I did my best to ignore the excited chatter and giggles of the mass of girls around me. I knew that they were thrilled to have a relative of the Vicomte here at the Populaire. It didn't matter much to me, why would it? He was just another person visiting that wouldn't matter much. Nothing to get excited over.

I pressed my fingers up against the cool glass as I looked out towards the night sky. It was completely dark except for a few tiny starts that dotted the sky.

All of a sudden the room got silent. I looked up and saw Monsieur Andre and Monsieur Firmin walk in the room followed by a boy that looked about sixteen; he looked much younger than I had expected. He had blond hair that went just above his shoulders. He looked at Andre and Firmin and nodded as they spoke. Madame Giry approached them.

"Welcome Monsieur de Changy, to our dance dormitories." She said to him. "This is where we board around forty five young dancers from the ages of fifteen to twenty three." She informed him as he nodded his head. He scanned the room, looking at all of the dancers, who were all staring at him.

"Thank you Madame," he said. "For welcoming me to your beautiful dormitories. I look forward to watching the dance rehearsals in the weeks leading up to your opening night." He said with a smile. "And it is a pleasure to meet you all." He said, directed towards us. Madame Giry smiled back and began to speak again.

"Girls, you may all return to your rooms if you wish. You are welcome to stay here, of course, but you must make sure to be in bed by a reasonable hour. Morning rehearsals will continue as scheduled." She instructed. Se turned back to Alexander and continued talking to him as about half of the girls filled out of the room.

The room was once again filled with the noisy chatter of all of the dancers. I could see Meg stand up and approach Alexander and as her mother introduced her. I could not hear what they were saying over the other voices, but I could pretty easily guess.

I turned back around to face the window again. I wasn't very interested in going back to the room and I had no need to be there. My tutor had given me the night off. He said that he had some business to attend this evening that would take up or lesson time. I wasn't too upset about it; it was nice to have a night off. I pressed my forehead against the cool glass of the window. I closed my eyes of a moment, imagining that I was outside, with the cool wind blowing on my face.

**Alexander**

I smiled nodded as the managers of the opera house led me through the winding halls of the ballet dormitories. They had insisted that I meet every member of the cast of the upcoming production. I had already met with all of the lead singers, the chorus and some of the stagehands. Now I was on my way to meet the entire dance corps.

We entered the room and immediately everyone went silent and looked towards me. There were so many girls, some that looked to be a bit younger than me and some that seemed older. I hoped that I wouldn't have to stay here very long; I had been traveling for a few days and I wanted to just go to bed and rest. But I knew that I must act as though I wanted to be here. I owed at least that much to my cousin.

He was the one who sent me here. He thought that it would be good for me to come and stay here. I didn't want to come, I wanted to stay where I had been for the past year: with him and his wife Christine. They had been my family since my parents had died of influenza a year ago and Raoul had taken me in. I would never stop owing him for it and that is why I was here. Because, now, I would do anything for him.

The head ballet mistress came and greeted me. I thanked her and the dancers and she dismissed some of the girls. The room cleared out by about half after that. I tried my best to ignore the look that some of the girls were giving me as they past. I knew that I should be used to it; I had an uncanny resemblance to my cousin that girls would almost always notice.

As the remaining girls in the room continued to talk amongst themselves the ballet mistress came over to introduce me to her daughter.

"Monsieur de Changy, I would like you to meet my daughter Meg." She said as I was approached by a blond girl who looked to be eighteen or nineteen. She gave me a big smile as she approached.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mademoiselle." I said.

"Meg was very good friends with Christine before she left the opera house. They were friends since she came here." Madame Giry informed me. I looked towards Meg.

"You know Christine?" I asked. My cousin's wife was one of the kindest most genuine people I had ever met. She had been kind to me from the moment we met, not even giving a second thought when Raoul asked about taking me in when my parents died.

"She is one of my best friends." She told me with a smile. I could easily imagine her being a friend of Christine.

"I must be going." Meg said suddenly. "I am meeting some of the other dancers in one of their rooms." She said. Her mother nodded in approval and she skipped out of the room. I knew that I would like Meg while I was here.

I was about to dismiss myself as well when a flash of red hair caught my eye. I looked towards where it was coming for and was immediately set back by the girl that I saw.

She was sitting on the windowsill; her arms were wrapped around her legs which were pulled against her chest. She was looking out the window, completely unfocused on anything else that was happening in the room. She was completely unfazed by my presence. I couldn't take my eyes off of her. I turned towards Madame Giry and pointed out the girl.

"Who is she?"


	14. Chapter 14

**Hey guys! So I know that last chapter left you guess hanging a little so I decided to post this one a little early for you! I ****might**** start updating a little more often now that the story line is starting to pick up a little. I love writing these kinds of chapters and, as long as you guys keep reviewing, I will keep the updates coming. So, remember to leave a review and ENJOY!**

I walked down the silent corridors. They were completely empty for the first time since I had been here. All of the other dancers were at lunch but I wasn't very hungry. Instead I decided to explore parts of the opera house that I hadn't seen yet.

I hadn't told Meg where I was going exactly. I had only told her that I wasn't going to lunch and I was just going to stay in the room. I had waited for her to leave and the halls to be clear before I left the room.

I knew that I wouldn't have very much time; lunch was only forty five minutes and then I had to get ready for my noon dance lesson.

I had decided that I would explore the backstage area first. There were only a few fly workers and none of them paid any attention to me as I walked around, observing everything I could see.

It didn't take very long for me to become bored of the area and decide to leave. I slipped out the way I came in as silently as I could. I walked through the halls again, not sure of where to go next. I still had about a half hour before I needed to return and I wanted to take advantage of every second. There were so few occasions that I had the time to just explore. I always had somewhere that I needed to be.

As I continued to wonder through the halls I became aware of the sound of footprints following behind me. Then a vaguely familiar voice called my name.

"Mary-Alice!" it called. I turned around to see who it was. When I turned I saw the face of Alexander de Changy. I stopped walking and turned my body to face him.

"That is your name, isn't it?" he asked.

"Yes…" I replied cautiously. "But how do you know that?" I asked.

"Madame Giry told me. I asked her last night when I noticed you in the sitting room. I went to speak with you when the managers left, but you had gone." He said. It was true that I had left a little while after Meg to go to bed.

"I have been looking for you all day." He continued. "But I haven't seen you anywhere."

"I have had rehearsals all day." I informed him. Why had he been looking for me? What did he want?

"Well, maybe we could talk now then." He said. I was very confused. Why would he want to talk to me?

I'm sorry." I said. "I have more rehearsals in a few minutes. I really must be going." I said as I turned around to walk away. Before I could take two steps he put his hand on my shoulder to get me to stop.

"Tomorrow then?" he asked in a kind voice as he faced me towards him. "At noon. Meet me at the back exit. We can have lunch." He said. I didn't know how to respond so I just nodded my head. He smiled and turned away.

… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … .. … … … … … … … … … … … … .

I tried my best to focus on not tripping as I walked down the cold stone hall to the dock where my tutor was waiting for me. For a few days he had begun to let me walk from my room to the dock by myself because I hadn't hurt myself in a while. Now I was struggling to keep it that way. But it wasn't easy; my head was clouded with thoughts of Alexander de Changy. I didn't understand him, I didn't even know him, but I couldn't get him out of my mind.

As I approached the dock and saw my tutor, I immediately noticed that something was different about him. His expression was strange, I could tell that he was upset but he was trying to hide it from me. Fortunately I knew just about all of his expressions by now so it was pretty much useless for him to try and hide anything from me. Still, I decided not to mention it right away.

As I came next to him he gave me a weak smile and took my hand to help me into the boat. As we glided through the water he was completely silent and he said nothing at all when we reached his little island. It wasn't until we took our places in front of his organ that I finally spoke.

"Monsieur, what is wrong?" I asked. He looked up at me and then quickly looked back at the piece of music set in front of him.

"I am afraid that I do not know what you are talking about." He said quietly. I let out my breath in a frustrated huff. Was he really going to deny it when he was being so obvious?

"Monsieur, you are not fooling me. I can tell that something is bothering you and I want to know what it is." I said.

He let out a loud breath. "Of course you can tell that something is wrong. I can never seem to get anything past you." He said with a small smile. "It is not anything very serious. Just the visitor that is going to be staying here for the next month."

"You mean Alexander?" I asked. "Why is Alexander's presence causing you any distress?" He sighed and buried his face in his hands.

"I do not expect you to understand Mary-Alice." He said, his voice a bit muffled. Then all of a sudden he snapped his head up and looked at me. "You haven't spoken with him, have you?" he asked in almost a growl.

"I have." I informed him. I gave him a questioning look, what was all of this about? "I spoke with him today and he invited me to join him for lunch tomorrow. I said yes." His eyes grew wide and he shot up off of the bench.

"You did what?" he yelled.

"Of course I did. Why wouldn't I? He invited me and I accepted, it was as simple as that. I did not know that it would be a _concern_ of yours." I said almost sarcastically. He took his hands and smoothed out his hair as he quickly paced across the floor.

"Of course it isn't a concern." He said after a minute. "Because you are not going." He said simply.

"What?" I asked quietly. "Why not?" I was talking in almost a whisper. I didn't understand why he was acting this way.

He groaned and came over to me, kneeling down so he could look me in the face. "Mary-Alice," he said. His voice sounded almost pained. It scared me. "I need you to just listen to me. Just this once, _please_ do as I ask. _Please_." He begged. I looked into his eyes and saw something that almost looked like fear. I had never seen him like this. I had never imagined him being afraid of anything, especially not this.

"Alright." I said quietly. "I wont go." He let out a sigh of relief.

"Thank you Mary-Alice." He breathed out. He kissed me softly of the top of my head. I was still a bit confused but I did not want to ask anything further, not while he was acting like this.

"S-should we continue with our lesson?" I asked quickly. I just wanted this lesson to continue the way that it was supposed to in the first place. He nodded and we went back over to the organ and tried to start our lesson.

**Erik**

I paced furiously through the room, feeling desperately impatient. Where was she? I had told her to meet me here and she was running late. I hated being up here and wanted to return to my safe basement as soon as possible. But I must have this meeting first before anything else.

At last, after what seemed like an eternity, she opened the door and came into the room.

"This better be important Erik." Madame Giry said with a bit more than a hint of annoyance in her voice. "It is late and I have many rehearsals to teach tomorrow and I do not appreciate you having me meet you in my office at this late an hour." I would have smiled if I was not here for such a serious reason, this was the one person who had remained my friend through all that had happened to me and was one of the only people who wasn't afraid to say whatever she pleased around me and not fear anything.

"I apologize." I said when she had finished talking. "But I must talk to you about something of importance." This caused her to look up at me, it was not often that I needed her help of anything of major importance it the opera house. The only things that I would usually ask her to do were small things that I couldn't be bothered with myself. The more major things I usually took care of myself to make sure they were done to my standards.

"It is about our _guest_." I said, twisting the word in disgust. "I need to make sure that you keep him away from Mary-Alice." I instructed. "He seems to have taken notice of her and I do not need her distracted by him." She nodded as if she had expected this.

"Yes, I did notice that he took interest in her." She said. "But I do not believe that this is about him _distracting_ Mary-Alice." She said with a smirk. I did not find her funny in the slightest.

"I will not have her liking him!" I yelled. If she wanted to know the real reason why, I would tell her, but I knew that I could never say it quietly. "Alexander is a direct relative of that _boy._ He even lives with him! He is his own blood and I will not have Mary-Alice associating with him! She is _my _student! She is _mine_…" I said, beginning to get quieter. It was awful to think of what could happen if my Mary-Alice continued to associate with Alexander de Changy.

"Erik," she said quietly, putting her hand on my shoulder. "I know that you do not like Raoul, but Alexander is a different person. He is not Raoul." I let out a sigh.

"Yes, but it is not just his blood that scares me. If Mary-Alice falls for him, there is no way that he would stay here with her. She would leave with him." The very thought caused tears to sting my eyes. I thought of Mary-Alice as my own, as though she were my own daughter. I could not, _would _not lose her so soon. Not when I felt that she was just starting to like her life here.

"I understand." She said. "I will watch out for her Erik. I promise." With just her words, I knew that I could trust her to do as she said.

After saying quick goodbyes, I left to return to my home for the night thinking of my Mary-Alice the entire time.


	15. Chapter 15

**Hello! So, I can't believe how fast I got this chapter up! I definitely will be updating more than once a week most of the time now. (There might be weeks like my school finals where I will not get to update as often.) I am really starting to love writing this so that is why my updates are coming more often. So, this chapter is a bit all over the place and is in many different POV's. It kind of goes back and forth a lot but I felt like I needed to do this to get the point across. Thank you and remember to leave a review! **

**Alexander**

I walked quickly back and forth in front of the back exit to the opera house, still waiting for her. She was supposed to have met me here almost an hour ago and there had still been no sign of her. Patience was one of the things that I had been taught at a very young age, but this was beyond control. No doubt she was already at her noon lesson and there was no way that she would be able to join me now. The realization of this angered me and disappointed at the same time.

I had been looking forward to have this time with her all day, causing the time to creep so slowly. And now, she didn't even show up. She completely stood me up. I sighed in defeat and began slowly walking back to my room.

I had hoped so badly for just a little while to speak with her, to be with her. She was so beautiful and just speaking with her for a little while had caused my heart to stop. Ever since then, all I wanted to do was see her again.

**Mary-Alice**

I paced around the room quickly, practically aching with boredom. Erik was practically forcing me to stay in his home for the duration of my lunch hour to ensure that I did not go to lunch with Alexander. I couldn't believe that he didn't trust me enough to believe me when I had promised not to go. So I was stuck staying here for the rest of the hour with nothing to do but wait. I let out a loud huff of breath as I continued to circle to room.

I heard a soft chuckle coming from across the room the. I looked over and saw my captor sitting at the organ watching me with an amused expression. I scowled at him, which only caused him to laugh again. I gave up and slumped down in a couch next to me. After a moment I heard him return to softly playing his organ.

My mind raced to try and occupy itself, not finding it an easy task. At last, a question took over my mind and demanded to be answered right away.

"Monsieur, what is you name?" I asked. His playing suddenly stopped and his head turned towards me, a slightly amused look crossing his face. After a moment he responded.

"Erik." He said simply and then continued to play. Erik. I repeated it in my head. Suddenly, it somehow became the only name that I found could ever suit him. I nodded in satisfaction of this new knowledge and continued letting my mind wander. Before long, I started to dose off.

**Erik**

I finished up the song that I was playing and turned around to face Mary-Alice. It was about time for her to return to her lessons and I didn't want to make her late. But when I saw her she was lying down on the large couch. I got up and, with a closer look, I found that she had fallen asleep. I smiled and walked over to her to wake her up but stopped when I got closer.

Her bright hair was sprawled around her and framed face perfectly. I sat at the end of the couch by her head and decided to let her sleep for a while; I would tell Madame Giry later about the reason for her absence.

I couldn't help but smiling as I looked at her. I took a strand of her hair in my fingers and absent mindedly started to play with it.

It must have been at least an hour when I became completely aware of what was going on. She adjusted herself in her sleep, putting her head in my lap and pulling her legs closer to her body. I became suddenly aware of how happy I was and I wished that I could just freeze the moment forever.

**Mary-Alice**

_I was happy. That was the only emotion that I could feel at the moment and the only thought that filled my head. I was standing in the middle of a grassy field. The sun was warm on my skin and the grass was cool and soft under my feet. I knew that I had never been there before and yet I felt completely comfortable. Suddenly he walked into view, his white mask being the easiest part to see. The bone white mask that no longer scared me, but was now a sign of comfort and safety. He approached me and took my hand gently. I felt happy with him there. I knew that I was safe with him, like a father. I knew he was not mine, but I felt like he might as well be. Suddenly everything changed. The sky grew dark and the air became cold. The grass under my feet was no longer cool and soft but hot, almost burning. And he was no longer there holding my hand but wandering farther and farther away from me. And suddenly, the ground opened up completely swallowing him and taking him away. He was gone forever. I let out a scream._

**Erik**

She went from a complete silent sleep to a deafening scream. It caused me to jump and I quickly helped her to fully wake up. She rapidly sat up and immediately huddled herself into my side, her legs pulled up against her chest. With her so close I could feel her entire body shaking profusely. I heard a whimper escape her lips as her eyes squeezed shut, trying to block out whatever had happened in her head.

"Shh" I soothed. "It's alright. Everything is alright my angel." I said in my softest voice. "It was only a dream. You are alright. I am here. Nothing will hurt you. Nothing will hurt my angel." I stroked her hair as I continued to try and calm her with my words.

I watched as a single tear fell down her face. What could have frightened her so badly? I tried not to think about it as I continued to do my best to get her to calm down. I let her stay next to me, my hand still stroking her hair, as she continued to lean against me, clenching her eyes shut. I decided to do the only thing that I knew could help her to calm down and began to very softly sing to her.

_Night time sharpens, heightens each sensation_

_Darkness stirs and wakes imagination_

_Silently the senses abandon there defenses_

_Slowly, gently, night unfurls its splendor_

_Grasp it, sense it tremulous and tender_

_Turn your face away from the garish light of day_

_Turn you thoughts away from cold unfeeling light_

_And listen to the music of the night_

Her eyes slowly began to open as the bit of the song ended. Tears were still running down her face, but she was no longer shaking and she appeared to be calming down. She closed her eyes again and leaned her head against my side. She quietly spoke. I could barely hear her because she was so quiet but I could just make out the single word she said.

"Stay."

"Forever." I promised as I kissed her softly on the top of her head.

**A bit of a shorter chapter but I can almost guarantee that there will be another one up by the end of the weekend! :D But PLEASE review on this chapter so I can know that it wasn't completely hated. Thank you! **


	16. Chapter 16

**Hello! So I am very excited that I am getting these updates up so quickly. But before you start this chapter if you would PLEASE leave a review on the last one if you haven't already I would REALLY appreciate it. I love putting up new chapters really quick but sometimes when I do this people will only review on the last chapter and I don't get any feedback on the other one(s). So please remember to review this chapter as well as the last one. Thank you and enjoy!**

"Good Mary-Alice, very good. Keep going." Madame Giry instructed from the side of the room as I jumped spun and leaped my way across the floor. It was toward the end of a particularly difficult lesson and I wanted it to be finished quickly.

I finished the final spin and faced towards Madame Giry, waiting for her feedback. Instead she was looking past me towards the door with a slightly annoyed look on her face. I spun around to face whatever she was staring at. And standing in the doorway was none other than Alexander de Changy.

"Can I help you Monsieur?" Madame Giry asked him.

"Yes actually. I was hoping that I could speak with Mary-Alice for a moment?" he asked politely. My stomach clenched. I knew that Erik would not want me speaking with him but I knew that I couldn't just refuse.

"I'm sorry Monsieur, but she is in the middle of a lesson." Madame Giry responded. I silently thanked her.

"But I asked some of the other dancers and they told me that this was the time that her lesson ended." He informed her. He was right of course, my lesson was supposed to be ending right now. "Please Madame, just for a moment?" he asked.

She sighed but knew that she couldn't refuse. "You have one minute, monsieur. That is all and then she must return to me." Madame Giry instructed sternly. He nodded and looked towards me and I had no choice but to walk towards him and out the door.

He closed the door to the rehearsal room as we stood in the hall. "I have been watching the last few minutes of your lesson. You are a lovely dancer." He complimented.

"Thank you." I said quietly as I looked at the floor, refusing to meet his gaze.

"Mary-Alice, why did you not come to meet me yesterday?" he asked quietly. There was no anger in his voice and I could even hear a bit of hurt in the words. For a moment I felt bad but then I remembered my teacher and how I had had no choice.

I couldn't tell him the real reason and nothing believable came to my head so I just stayed silent. He understood that I wasn't going to answer so he continued to speak.

"When is you next lesson?" he asked.

"Tonight, after supper." I answered quietly.

"That isn't for a few hours." He stated. "Would you mind joining me on a walk now, then?" he asked. I looked up to him and saw the hope in his eyes. I felt awful for standing him up yesterday and I couldn't think of the words to refuse his offer. It would only be for a little while and my teacher would never have to know.

"Alright." I answered quietly. "But you must wait a moment. Go and wait down the hall and I will go and tell Madame Giry that I am going back to my room." I instructed him. He smiled and nodded.

"Thank you Mary-Alice." He said before turning and walking down the hall. I sighed and hoped that I was doing the right thing. I walked back into the rehearsal room to Madame Giry.

"What did he want to speak about?" she asked.

"Nothing of importance." I assured her. She gave me a questioning look but didn't ask anything further.

"Alright then." She said after a moment. "You may go back to your room now. I expect to see you at tonight's lesson." She said. I nodded, thanked her for the lesson, and then walked out the door and down the hall where Alexander was waiting.

… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …

"Where are we going?" I asked him. We had been walking for a little while and he seemed to have a specific place in mind. We were in the paths outside the opera house that led through a patch of woods. I had never been out here before but I had seen it through windows and often heard the other dancers talk about walking through here.

"You'll see." He said with a smile. "Don't worry, not much longer." I was starting to regret coming with him. I was beginning to get quite nervous about what would happen if my tutor found out where I was but I tried to reassure myself that there would be no way for him to find out.

Suddenly he started to lead me off of the stone path and we were walking through the grass towards the woods. I definitely had no idea where we were going.

After walking for about ten more minutes we came to a group of trees that formed almost like a wall. I thought that we had maybe taken a wrong turn when he pulled the branches of on of the trees aside and stepped through them. I hesitated for a moment, not sure if I should follow him. Suddenly he peeked back through the trees and smiled at me. He held out his hand for me to take. I thought a moment before taking his hand and following him.

When I had pushed through the layers of branches I saw what he was leading me to the whole time. My breath caught in my throat as I looked over the beautiful garden that was in front of me. There were hundreds of tiny different colored flowers all planted in a big clearing surrounded by the trees. There was a small stone bench a few feet away from us. There was a glistening pool of water to the side. It was absolutely breathtaking.

Alexander, still holding onto my hand, led me over to the bench and we both sat down.

"Do you like it?" he asked. I couldn't find the words to express how much I did, so I just nodded.

"What is this place?" I asked him. He smiled.

"I found it when I was about ten years old." He began. "I used to come here every year as a child with my parents and we would stay for a week because they were patrons. I would go outside and wander around when I was bored and one day I found this place." He sighed. "When my parents died a year ago, I thought that I would never come here again."

"Why did you come back?" I asked. It seemed logical that he wouldn't come here after his parents died.

"You probably know that Raoul and Christine took me in after my parents died." He said. I nodded my head and he continued. "Well, until they have children of their own, I am next in line to take Raoul's place as Vicomte. And he wants me to learn everything that I will need to know as such. That means learning about this opera house."

"You don't seem very happy about that." I said. He gave me a small smile.

"I suppose that I'm not _thrilled_, but it isn't so bad. I always liked this place as a child and I am glad to get to see it again. Besides, now I have a friend here."

"Yes you do." I said with a smile.

"Well, now that you know about me, I would like to learn about you." He said. "Why are you here? I mean, I know that you are a dancer but why? Did your parents send you here?" I quickly looked towards the ground.

"No, they died a little over a month ago." I said quietly.

"Oh." He said. "I am very sorry, I did not know."

"That's alright. I came here after they died because I had no where else to go." I told him. "They always wanted me to be a performer and they had trained me since I was a little girl. Mostly in singing and piano, but they needed me most in the dance corps here."

"Are you happy here?" he asked. I thought for a moment before giving my answer.

"Yes." I said. I hadn't really thought about it much before. I finally realized that I was beginning to like my life here.

"I hope to be as well." He said. "I am stuck here for a month, I might as well enjoy it." he said with a smile. "So," he began after a moment "what do you do here, besides attend a ridiculous amount dance rehearsals?" he said with a laugh. I smiled weakly. It wasn't as if I could tell him what I really did. There was no way that I could tell him, or anyone else for that matter, about my tutor.

"Oh, not much." I said after thinking for a minute. It was the best answer I could give him.

"Well maybe we could help each other then." He said. "You can help me get to like this place and I can help you have something to do in your life besides just dancing." I didn't know how to respond. I knew that I was not supposed to even be talking to him but know that I was, I really was starting to like him. He was so different from other people that I had met here.

"I'd like that." I said quietly. I knew that I would pay for it later, but I really wanted to see Alexander again.

I looked up at him and for the first time since we had arrived I noticed how his blond hair almost glittered in the sun. His dark blue eyes watched me intensely and before I knew what was happening he closed the space between our faces and pressed his lips against mine.

He took my face in both of his hands and held it softly as he kissed me. I didn't know what to do or how to respond. After a moment of contemplating I began to kiss him back. Another moment passed before he pulled his face away, hands still holding my face. He looked into my eyes and smiled at me fondly.

"Should I not have done that?" he asked, still smiling. I gave a shy smile and shook my head.

"No, it's alright." I said. He let one hand drop from my face and the one that remained there softly caressed my skin. We remained like this for a few moments.

"We should probably be getting back." He said quietly. I wanted to shout in protest, to remain in this moment forever, but I knew that he was right.

"Yes." I said. He stood up and took my hand, leading me as we made our way out of the garden and back through the wall of trees; our hands intertwined the whole time.


	17. Chapter 17

**So I am putting this chapter up a little early because I will have absolutely NO TIME this weekend for writing! (The school play is this weekend and I am working on it all day both Saturday and Sunday. AND I have a History project due Monday that I haven't even started yet…) So, yeah I am a procrastinator…. And I just wanted to mention how much all of your reviews mean to me. I get so excited every time I see a new review you have no idea! So I want to thank all of you who have been leaving reviews almost every week and you guys have no idea how much I really appreciate you! Thank you all and enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT own the lyrics to Hanging Tree. The rights fully belong to Suzanne Collins and any partners associated with its publishing. **

We walked through the halls, my hand still tangled in his, on the way back to my room. We had purposely taken the long way and had been walking through the dormitories for the past twenty minutes, not wanting to separate.

We reached the door to my room and I sighed, not wanted to release his hand.

"When will I see you again?" he asked softly. I knew that he was thinking the same thing that I was, how were we supposed to keep seeing each other with our demanding schedules and under the constant watch of Madame Giry?

"I don't know." I answered honestly.

"Soon." He assured. I knew it was the only answer either of us could give at the moment. He smiled and kissed me softly on the check before he walked away. I turned to open the door to my room.

"Hello Meg." I said as I opened the door. I knew that she would be in there as she was everyday. But there was no response. I turned to look to see if the room was empty. When I saw that it wasn't I jumped back in surprise. It wasn't Meg who was in my room, but Erik. He was leaning against a wall, not looking at me.

"W-where's Meg?" I asked nervously.

"Out." He answered in a cold voice, still refusing to meet my gaze.

"Well then, why are you-" I managed to stammer out before he cut me off.

"Mary-Alice, do you think that I am stupid?" he demanded his voice much louder than when he normally spoke to me. "Or perhaps just too blind to see what is going on?" he was glaring at me now, anger emanating from his whole body.

"I-I don't know what you mean." I said quietly. Now it was me who wouldn't look at him.

"I saw you Mary-Alice!" he shouted. "I saw you with him, coming back from the woods and then walking through the dormitories together. Do you deny that?"

"No." I said quietly. I looked up at him. "But I do not understand why you do not want me to see him. He has done nothing wrong."

"He has done everything wrong!" he shouted back at me. "He has blinded you and is trying to distract you! I know his family, his blood! They are no good. And I will _not_ have you associating with him anymore! Mary-Alice, you will _not_ see him again." It took a moment for his words to set in. I sank down onto the foot of Meg's bed.

"You can not tell me that." I said quietly. "You can not control me. I do not _belong_ to you. You do not _own_ me." They were words that I felt that I should have been shouting but my voice remained quiet and steady.

"Mary-Alice" he said calmly. "You _will_ listen to me. This is not something that I am debating. My word is final. You will not be seeing Alexander de Changy again." And with that he turned and retreated through the mirror.

I sat on the bed, unsure of what to do. I knew that I could not disobey Erik. No matter what I had said the truth was that he _did_ own part of me in a way. I would never be able to refuse him and I knew it. With this realization I jumped over to my bed and buried my face into my pillow.

How quickly the day had changed.

**Erik**

I was infuriated. How could she do this to me? How could she disobey me like this? I stormed through my home, unsure how to contain my anger. Even thinking his name caused my face to grow hot. Out of anyone that could have come to visit the opera house it _had_ to be him. And out of all of the dancers he _had_ to choose her.

Of course he had. Hadn't I? Out of all the people that had auditioned in the past years, she was the only one that I had chosen. Who wouldn't? She was beautiful, talented, charming and kind. I couldn't think of any reason that this young de Changy _wouldn't _take notice in her.

But he would not have her, not as long as I lived. He would not be the one to take my perfect student from me. She would stay with me forever, stay at the opera house and be my student. She would have everything she needed and I would help her rise to the star that I knew that she could be. She would be happy with me.

I comforted myself with the thoughts of the future; her future. I sunk down into a chair trying to figure out what to do. She was furious with me, no doubt. She wouldn't so easily forgive me, but I needed to see her.

I decided that I would give her a few hours to herself, let her calm down. She had the only temper that I knew that could almost match mine and I knew she wasn't about to so quickly calm down. I paced around, not sure what to do with my time. I decided to just settle on trying to sleep for a while. It had been a few nights since I had gotten a full night of sleep and I was just now noticing how tired my body was feeling. I sat into a large chair, the same one that Mary-Alice had glared at me from just earlier in the day while I kept her here for her lunch hour. My head was of course filled with thoughts of her as sleep slowly took me.

… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …

I walked quietly through the stone halls leading towards her room. I was getting closer and I didn't her to hear me coming. It had been a few hours since our argument and it was a little while before I was supposed to come collect her for our lesson. I wasn't sure if she would agree to attend tonight but I was still going to ask her.

I had decided to come a little early so that I could watch her and make sure that she wasn't still so upset. As I approached the glass of the mirror I could hear an eerie melody coming from her room. As I looked through the glass I could see that Mary-Alice was alone in the room, singing softly to herself.

_Are you, are you coming to the tree_

_Where they strung up a man they say murdered three_

_Strange things did happen here _

_No stranger would it be _

_If we met up at midnight in the hanging tree_

I was not familiar with these words and they sounded odd coming from her. But the haunting melody sucked in my attention and forced me to continue listening.

_Are you, are you coming to the tree_

_Where the dead man called out for his love to flee_

_Strange things did happen here_

_No stranger would it be_

_If we met up at midnight in the hanging tree_

_Are you, are you coming to the tree_

_Where I told you to run so we could both be free_

_Strange things did happen here_

_No stranger would it be_

_If we met up at midnight in the hanging tree_

I couldn't completely understand the reason for her singing this song. There honestly didn't even seem to be one. The way her voice sounded, it seemed as though she almost didn't even know that she was singing it at all.

_Are you, are you coming to the tree_

_Wear a necklace of rope side by side with me_

_Strange things did happen here_

_No stranger would it be_

_If we met up at midnight in the hanging tree_

The soft voice ended, much to my silent objection. Though it seemed a bit morbid coming from the girl that I was only used to hearing songs that I chose for her, it was beautiful and hypnotizing. I stepped from the mirror quietly, making sure that she didn't know I had entered before I spoke.

"Where did you learn that song?" I asked. She spun around, surprised by my presence. Then, remembering that she was supposed to be mad at me, turned back around.

"It's just a song that I remember hearing as a child. I do not remember from where. The melody just stuck with me I suppose." She said calmly. When it appeared that she was not about to yell at me, I took a step closer to her.

"You sang it beautifully." I complimented quietly. "It sounded lovely."

"Thank you." She responded, still not turning to face me. I sighed, realizing that she was still going to be upset with me.

"Mary-Alice I would like to apologize." I said. At hearing this, she began to turn around slowly. "I understand that I may have been a little harsh. I should not have yelled at you." I sat down next to her.

"But you must understand, Mary-Alice, I am not changing my mind about him." I admitted. She slowly nodded.

"I understand." She said quietly. I could tell that she was not going to argue but she was not happy. I sighed deeply and took her hand in mine.

"Mary-Alice, I also want you to know that I only do this for your own well-being. That is the only reason that I ever do anything." I brushed a piece of loose hair from her face and lightly tucked it behind her ear.

"I know." She said. "Thank you. I do know that you want what is best for me." She let out a small sigh. "If it is what you want, I will do my best not see Alexander again." I smiled.

"Thank you my little angel." I said quietly. "Now, should we go to our lesson?" I asked as I stood up. She nodded and I led her through the mirror, back into my world.

**So I didn't know if putting that song in was too weird or irrelevant to the story. I just liked it and kind of how I imagined it sounding from Mary-Alice and how Erik would hear it coming from her. Sorry if it was too weird! **


	18. Chapter 18

**Hello my beautiful readers! So, I was going to try and put up another chapter last weekend but I never got around to it because I was working on the school play the whole weekend. It went amazing and was SOOO much fun but it definitely was a lot of work and took a lot of time. Also, I still haven't gotten any reviews or anything on my Hunger Games one-shot so if nothing happens in the next few days in think I'm just going to take it down :( Oh well, I know that some stories just don't work out. So PLEASE remember to leave a review for this chapter when you finish reading! Thank you and ENJOY!**

**Alexander**

Where was she? I walked quickly through the halls of the ballet dormitories looking for her. I wanted to find her as quickly as possible because I honestly didn't like being down here very much. If anyone, especially any of the dancers, saw me down here I would have to endure an endless conversation that I didn't have the tolerance for right now. I wanted to just find her and go, take her somewhere we could be alone.

I heard footsteps and quickly ducked behind a wall, hoping that the person wouldn't see me. The steps grew closer and I thought that I had been spotted but instead of advancing they stopped. When they didn't move for a few moments I quickly peeked my head around looking to see what had happened. I saw Mary-Alice standing there, looking around the hallway in a way that made her appear to be lost. But I knew she couldn't be so I assumed that she was waiting for someone. I stepped around, making myself visible.

I expected her to look happy or excited to see me. After all, she had wanted to know when we would meet again yesterday when I had left her at her room. Instead, a look of fear crossed her face when she saw that I was standing there. She quickly turned to walk away.

"Mary-Alice wait!" I called. "Where are you going?" She quickly turned around to face me.

"I-I'm sorry." She stammered nervously. "I really must go. I can not speak right now. I really must go." She repeated as she turned around again, quickly walking away. I ran up to her and put my hand on her shoulder.

"Wait." I said softly when I had reached her. "What is going on Mary-Alice? What is wrong?" When she turned to face me it looked as if she were close to tears.

"N-noting. Nothing is wrong, I just really must go now." She said as she pulled away from me and ran away.

**Mary-Alice**

I pulled away from him and ran down the hall, trying to ignore the awful feeling of guilt that I had. I felt terrible. He had no idea what was going on and he never would. I wish that I could explain. Tell him that he had done nothing wrong, that I still felt the same for him that I did the day before. That it wasn't my choice to ignore him. More than anything, I wanted to run back to him and just hide in his arms. Pretend that nothing was wrong. Pretend that there would be no consequences.

But I knew that there would be and I knew that I wouldn't be the one punished, he would be. Erik would never hurt me but I did not think that he would give a second thought about hurting Alexander if he were mad enough. I decided that no matter how much it hurt me and no matter how much it would hurt him for the moment, it was better than Erik hurting him.

I ran into my room to try and just forget. I sat on my bed. I didn't have another dance lesson until after lunch and I had nothing to do until then. I decided to just take out my music and write until I thought of something else to do.

I had finally calmed down a bit and was starting to relax when there was a knock on the door. I knew instantly that it was not Meg's soft tapping.

"Mary-Alice, are you in there?" Alexander's voice called, sounding muffled through the closed door. "Mary-Alice, please." He pleaded. I wanted so badly to call out to him, but I knew I couldn't.

As he continued pleading through the closed door and it became harder to resist answering him. Tears began to well up in my eyes and I knew that I couldn't stay in there. I got up as carefully as I could so I wouldn't make any noise. I ran over to the mirror at the end of the room, opened it, and stepped through. I closed it behind me and I began walking through the dark damp hallway.

It wasn't until I took a step on the freezing damp stone floor that I realized that I wasn't wearing any shoes. Oh well, I would get used to the cold floor. I began to walk quickly, desperate to get away from his voice which continued to chase me down the hall. My breathing sped up and I struggled to get it back to normal. I was still walking when I realized a flaw in my little plan. How was I supposed to get to him? I didn't even know how to move the boat, never mind get it all the way to him. I still had no clue what I was going to do when I saw the dock. When I saw it I realized that I was not going to have a problem getting to him; he was standing in his boat at the dock.

I looked at him in disbelief as I walked closer. "How did you know-" I began.

"I always know, my student." He answered with a smile. I decided not to question it. He offered me his hand and I took it, stepping into the boat next to him. I sat down behind him as he rowed through the water.

The whole time we were in the boat my breathing was ragged. I still couldn't get the sound of him calling me out of my head. It hurt me so much to hear him like that and I still wanted to go to him. I was still fighting tears, perhaps even more now because I knew that I couldn't cry in front of him. As soon as the boat hit the land I jumped up and immediately began pacing. He rushed over to me and put his hands on my shoulders.

"It's alright angel. It is okay." He said soothingly. He led me over to a chair and sat me down, hands still resting on my shoulders. I wondered if he knew what had happened. I knew that he was capable of watching everything that happened. Then I realized that of course he had been watching, that is how he knew I was going to his boat. I should be upset that he was watching me, but I wasn't.

**Erik**

I did my best to sooth her without pushing it. I knew that the reason she was upset was my fault and I didn't need her turning on me at the moment.

But why was she so upset? I had watched her turn him away in the hall and I saw him follow her to her room. I saw how hard it was for her to leave. Why was it so hard for her to leave? There had to be something that I didn't understand, something that I hadn't seen. All I knew about them was everything that had happened when they had come back from the woods yesterday, but I had seen nothing before then. I felt like there was something that I should have seen that I didn't. The reason it was so hard for her to leave him.

"Are you alright?" I asked a few moments after I sat her in the chair. She nodded weakly. I stroked her hair softly, not sure how to comfort her when I was becoming so upset myself. How dare he do this to her? How dare he obtain so much control over her in such a short time? This was his fault.

We were silent for a very long time. She sat quietly and motionless for about ten minutes before I decided to speak.

"Would you like something to drink?" I asked. She hesitated before nodding her head. I walked over to my small excuse for a kitchen and took out a cup and a pitcher of water. As I began to pour it she came and stood a few feet behind me. I handed her the glass.

"Thank you." She said quietly as she took the cup in her hands. She took a small sip before speaking again.

"I am sorry that I just came here without asking first. I just couldn't stay up there…" she let the sentence trail off instead of finishing. She didn't need to, I knew what she was going to say.

"There is no need to apologize." I said. "You are welcome here whenever you please. Although getting from the dock to here may be a bit of a problem. I cannot always be there waiting." Suddenly an idea came into my head. I walked over to a small cabinet a few feet away. I rummaged through them quickly before I found what I had been looking for. I pulled out a small whistle on the end of a black satin lace, the same kind of lace that I had given her for her hair when she had first arrived.

"If you ever need me to come and bring you here, just blow into this." I instructed as I handed it to her. "If I am here I will hear it and know that it is you." I watched her as she quickly examined the small thing in her hand.

"Thank you." She said to me.

"Would you like to stay here until your next dance lesson?" I asked her. She nodded her head sharply.

"Please." She said quietly. I smiled.

"You may do what you like until then. I am going to be playing my organ for a while." I told her.

"May I listen?" she asked.

"Of course." I answered. I wondered why she was asking but didn't say anything further.

I didn't have anything specific in mind that I wanted to play so I just began to play random notes that flowed into my head. The notes soon drifted into a song from the opera that was currently being rehearsed. It was my favorite from the opera, but nothing special.

**Mary-Alice**

I listened to the mixture of notes he played as they turned into a familiar song that I had heard being practiced the past few weeks around the opera house. Though I had heard it many times before when he played it, it sounded different. Beautiful.

I let myself get lost in the song, forgetting the entire day. Forgetting the hurt and the tears. Forgetting Alexander.

**Okay, so I didn't like this chapter very much but it needed to be written for future purposes. I will try my hardest to get another chapter up by the end of the weekend and if that doesn't happen maybe during the week. Remember, reviews make me write faster ;) So PLEASE leave a review! 3**


	19. Chapter 19

**I am SOOOOO super sorry! I meant to update last weekend but whenever I sat down to write my mind blanked. But I thought of a few ideas today during school (and yes, writing them down in my notebook was much more important than taking notes!) Maybe if I have enough time this weekend I will update again but it depends on my schedule and if I have any ideas and how many reviews I get for this chapter (**hint hint***) :D Rating changed for a little bit of violence. Thank you and Enjoy!**

I slipped a small scarf around my shoulders and walked out the door to my room. I shut I quickly behind me, not needing anyone to know that I was leaving.

I needed to go for a walk, I needed some time by myself to think and clear my head. I wouldn't go far but I didn't want anyone to stop me. I wasn't sure how happy Monsieur Erik would be with me going into the streets of Paris alone. I decided not to take to chance of him saying no so I hadn't told him.

As I made my way out of the Opera House I had to pull my scarf tighter around my shoulders; it was really cold out.

I looked around a minute before deciding my route. The only time that I had ever been around Paris, besides the Opera House and its surrounding property, was with Meg when we had gone dress shopping. I hoped that I would be able to remember my way.

I decided on a less crowded path. There were not many people out at all because of the weather, but there were enough that they would be a distraction from my own thoughts.

I walked for about a half hour before I decided to check to see if I knew where I was. After carefully looking at my surrounding I realized that I didn't. I had to be at my evening dance lesson is about two hours so I couldn't stay out for much longer. I would try to pay more attention to the direction that I was going.

It didn't help. No matter how much I paid attention I had no idea where I was or where I was going. I cut through a long, narrow alleyway which I was pretty sure would get me closer to the Opera House.

When I was a few steps into the alley I realized that it was much darker than I had thought. The air seemed colder in here too. I hugged the scarf around my shoulders and rubbed my hands together.

Suddenly I heard the sound of footsteps approaching me from behind. I didn't turn around to look at the person, I only quickened my pace. The footsteps got closer quickly. I was almost running when somebody grabbed my shoulder violently and spun me around.

I was facing two men. They both had dark, messy hair and piercing eyes. They grinned at me as I stared to step backwards. One of them grabbed my wrist and pulled me back towards them before I could get away. He squeezed my wrist in his hand until I was sure it would leave a bruised.

"Where are you going?" one of them asked in a deep, raspy voice. The one with my wrist still in his hand roughly pulled me closer to them.

"Why don't you stay awhile?" he asked as he pulled my wrist so I was only inches away from him.

"Please" I said quietly. "Let me go."

"Oh no, we can't do that." The other one said as he put his hand on my shoulder. He rubbed the fabric of my scarf in between his fingers before slowly pulling it off and letting it fall to the ground. I struggled to free my arm but it was no use. He used his fist to crush my wrist until I shrieked in pain. This made them both chuckle.

"Help!" I yelled hoping for someone, anyone, to hear me and come save me. "Help-!" I tried yelling again before a large hand came down over my mouth. I continued to yell but it was no use. I bit down hard on his hand until he quickly pulled it back. Before I had a chance to try to run again the other one hit me over the head with his elbow. I fell to the ground, grabbing my head in pain.

"Please" I begged weakly. My head spun and I did my best to remain focused on what was happening, focus on getting away. I tried to get up before they grabbed me again but I stumbled under my weight. One of them grabbed my wrist again and yanked me up to my feet and pulling me close to him, my face only inches from his.

"Now that wasn't very nice, was it?" he said, his hot breath rushing over my face. He put his hand on my hip, his finger tracing along my side. I pulled as hard as I could and pulled my wrist out of his grasp and spun around. I thought I would be able to run but I only bumped into the other man's chest. He put both of his hands on my hips and grinned down at me. I was trapped and I knew it.

I closed my eyes and tried to block it all out when I heard the man behind me let out a shout. I tried to turn to see what was happening but the man in front of me kept a firm grasp on me. I heard another person's footsteps behind me before the man let out another shout and fell to the ground. The man holding me released my waist and took both of my wrists. He threw me up against a wall and ran towards where the other man had been.

I slammed against the wall hard. My shoulder was crushed against the stone and I fell to the ground. I sat there motionless, unable to get up. I could only look towards the man that had just held me. He was fighting with someone else. My head was still spinning as I looked towards the fight. He went to hit another man, who dodged it. I recognized the blond hair, it was Alexander.

Alexander kicked the other man in the stomach and when he knelt in pain, hit him over the head hard enough to make him fall to the ground. Neither of my two attackers moved from the ground, both unconscious or in too much pain to move. Alexander stepped over them and rushed over to me.

He knelt in front of me. "Mary-Alice?" he said, his voice sounding frightened. "Mary-Alice are you okay?" I nodded my head slowly. "Mary-Alice let's get out of here." I tried to stand up but my head spun, causing me to stumble backwards. Before I could fall he grabbed my shoulder and gently helped me stand. He took my hand softly and quickly led me out of the alley.

We walked until we reached a small bench. There were no people in sight, all probably in their houses safe from the cold air and fog that was slowly creeping over the street. We both sat down.

I shook from the cold; my scarf had been left in the alley. Alexander carefully wrapped his arms around me, pulling me into an embrace. I buried my face into his shoulder and clenched my eyes shut, trying to forget everything that had just happened. I began to sob lightly.

"Shh" he soothed. "It's okay, love." He said quietly. "You are okay." He let me go and looked at me.

"Did they hurt you?" he asked quietly. I could see the concern in his eyes. I shook my head slowly.

"Not much." I lied quietly. The pain in my head was already dulling but I could tell there would be a bump where I had first been hit. I nodded slowly until his gaze dropped. He took my hand gingerly and lifted it to eye level. Once I saw it I knew what he was looking at, my wrist had a deep purple and blue bruise that wrapped around the whole way like a bracelet where the man had grabbed.

"Oh." I said quietly, not knowing what else to say." He lifted his eyes from my wrist to my eyes.

"I can't let them keep living…" he said as he began to stand up. I pulled his arm furiously.

"No!" I shouted. No way was he going back there. What if they woke up? "No please. Stay here." He looked down at me.

"How can I let them not be punished for what they did?" he shouted. I pulled his arm, attempting to get him to sit down.

"Please, don't go back there!" I pleaded. "I'm okay, please just don't go!" I pulled one more time before he slowly sat back down.

"Mary-Alice, do you understand what almost happened?" he said gravely as he glared into my eyes. "They almost…" his voice trailed off.

"I know." I said quietly. "But they didn't. You stopped them. You saved me." As soon as the words left my lips tears stung my eyes again. I buried my face back into his shoulder and allowed him to enclose me in his arms.

"I could have lost you." He whispered.

We stayed for a little while longer while he surveyed the rest of my injuries. After that he scolded me for leaving by myself and instructed me that, if I ever wanted to leave again that I would find him and get him to escort me.

I knew that I had done something that I could never take back. I now owed him my life; I would never be able to leave him.

**So, what did you think? What do all of you Alexander Haters think of him now? Well I will do my very best to get another chapter up before the end of the weekend! Please remember to leave a review! Thank you!**


	20. Chapter 20

**Okay, before I start apologizing for not putting up another chapter last week like I said I would let me say that it was NOT MY FAULT! I got my computer taken away for performing scientific semi-chemical experiments on my little brother. Before I continue let me just point out that there was no permanent damage and all pain inflicted was completely gone in less than a half hour. So it was a very unfair punishment but it is over now and I got it revoked early for good behavior. Alright, back to normality. So I CAN NOT BELIEVE THAT IT IS CHAPTER 20 ALREADY! I literally feel like I JUST started writing this and it is already on Chapter 20! I do not know whether that makes me happy or sad. I do not foresee an ending any time soon so no worries about that. I hope that you guys have liked the story so far and I want to thank everyone who has reviewed since the beginning. Also, I updated my profile a few days ago because it was really lame before. So check that out because it has a lot more info about me now. So, enjoy the chapter and please remember to leave a review!**

I paced back and forth in my room, too anxious to sit still. I was waiting for my tutor to come and collect me for my lesson and I was terrified that he would notice that something was wrong. I did not want him to know about what had happened earlier in the day for many reasons. I did not want him to know that I had gone out alone. And more importantly I did not want him to find out that Alexander had been the one to save me.

Before I had time to think of what to do there was a soft taping on the glass of the mirror. I turned towards it, knowing that there was no way out now.

"Good evening Mary-Alice." He said with a smile as he slid the glass of the mirror open.

"Good evening." I managed to say quietly as I stepped towards him. I didn't know how he would find out, but I knew that he always had his ways. I had never been able to hide anything from him before.

We made the journey to his home fairly silently and my fear slowly began to go away. Of course there would be no way for him to know. I tried to reassure myself that if he already knew, he would have said something about it by now.

I took my place standing next to his organ as usually but when he came over he did not sit down.

"Oh no, my student." He said. "Not today. Today we will be working on _your_ playing." He motioned for me to sit on the bench in front of the organ. I slowly sat down.

"Any particular reason?" I asked.

"You haven't gotten a chance to play since you arrived here." He said as he sat next to me on the bench. "You need to keep practicing if you want to improve."

"But Monsieur, I play the piano not the organ." I pointed out. "They are very different." He smiled and nodded in agreement.

"Yes, that is correct." He responded. "But I would like to teach you this. It is my favorite and I would love for you to learn."

"Of course." I said. He put a sheet of music in front of me and told me to play it as best I could. It wasn't a terribly difficult piece but it was odd playing and having a sound other than the piano come out. It wasn't a bad thing just quiet different.

Throughout the piece he would interject small instructions telling me to go slower, faster, quieter. I did not mind them but suddenly they stopped. About halfway through the piece he became completely silent. It wasn't a satisfied silent, it was a silence that scared me. I continued playing but started paying less and less attention to the piece and more to any sound and movement he was making; there were none.

Suddenly he grabbed my arm, forcing me to stop playing. I was startled and I looked up at him. He was staring intensely at my hands. It confused me for a moment before I looked at them. My sleeve had rolled up a bit exposing my black and blue wrist. I had forgotten about it. It certainly hadn't gotten any better, if anything the colors had become darker. He picked my hand up carefully as if it were about to shatter into a million pieces.

"What happened?" he asked quietly.

I shook my head slowly. "I-I'm not sure…"

"Do not lie to me Mary-Alice!" he said a bit louder.

I hesitated before speaking. "I was out walking." I said very quietly. "And there were these _people_." I twisted the word, too disgusted by them to even comfortably call them that. "And they tried to…" my voice trailed off before I finished the sentence. By the way his expression hardened and his eyes flared I knew that I didn't need to. "But I got away before they could. But one of them grabbed my wrist to hard and it left that." I said motioning to my injured wrist.

He didn't speak for a few moments. He hardly even moved, he remained as still as a stone. "How?" he asked through clenched teeth. "How did you get away? If there was more than one of them how could you even manage to?" I didn't meet his gaze as I answered.

"Alexander found me." I said barely above a whisper. "He was walking by and heard me yelling. He got me away from them and then brought me back here." Nothing happened for a moment. It seemed like the world stood still but in reality it was just _my _world. There was not a sound or a movement. Then he shot up.

"Him!" he roared. "He was with you!" He was angrily pacing the room in huge steps. I raced over to him and grabbed on of his arms with both of my hands.

"No!" I said. "No, I was alone. I left here alone! He had already been out and when I yelled for help he heard me!" He stopped walking and turned to face towards me, anger laced into every word.

"Why would you go out alone?" he yelled, refocusing his anger on me. That was better; let him be angry at me. It was a thousand times better than him being angry at Alexander.

"I'm sorry." I said. "I know I shouldn't have but I wanted some time to just think. I hadn't been out of here in so long and I wanted to be by myself. It seemed like a good idea at the time." I said, my voice become quieter at the end.

He groaned, obviously not sure what emotion to be feeling. Anger towards me, hatred towards Alexander, or both. He took a deep breath and spoke again, this time he was calmer. "Mary-Alice you have no idea, do you? No idea what would happen if I lost you?" I was taken aback by his question and I didn't answer, knowing that he wasn't done. "Mary-Alice I need you to be more careful. At least go a few weeks without me having to save you or find out that you needed saving. God, and that _boy._" He spat the word. "Of course he was the one to save you. Of course it just had to be him! But I can not even be mad because if he hadn't been there… I don't even want to think about that." He pulled his hands through his hair. He took me by the shoulders and crouched down so he could talk to my face. "Mary-Alice I need you to understand. This does not change anything. My mind has already been made up about him and you can not keep seeing him. I am grateful for what he did but god Mary-Alice, I still hate him. Hate him with everything I have. Do you understand?" he asked me. I knew this time I would have no choice but to respond.

"Yes, I do." I said simply. I knew that this wouldn't change anything. I hadn't thought for a second that it would. But I still knew that I couldn't just not see Alexander.

He sighed. Whether it was in relief or just because he was tired, I did not know. "Alright Mary-Alice. Enough with me yelling. Were you hurt anywhere else?" he asked. I knew better than to lie to him and say no so I told him about my head and my shoulder.

The next half hour was spent with him trying to fix everything, even what wasn't fixable. I sat still and quietly, knowing that arguing with treatment would just be a waste of breath. The evening ended with him playing a few songs on his organ with me listening from the couch and me falling asleep to the sound of his music. I assumed that he carried me back to my room because when I woke up I was in my own bed.

**A really short chapter but I really wanted to get one out quickly. I am pretty busy tomorrow but my finals start on Wednesday so that means a lot of days with only about an hour of school which means a lot of extra time! I will see what I can do about getting another chapter up soon! Don't forget to check out my new profile and REVIEW! Thank you!**


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